PAUL Carden rued his Warrington Town side’s profligacy in front of goal as they fell to defeat at Nantwich Town on Saturday.

Sean Williams had given Yellows the lead from the penalty spot, but the hosts fought back to claim a 2-1 victory and stretch Town’s winless sequence to four games.

They held onto second place in the Evo-Stik Premier Division by virtue of third-placed Grantham’s shock 3-0 home defeat to Mickleover Sports, but Carden says that was the “only positive” to come out of the game.

He believes the game “should not have even been close” by the time the Dabbers scored their equalising goal and also criticised the decision to award Nantwich the penalty that led to their winning goal.

“It was a game of missed chances, to be honest,” he said.

“Before we scored, we had two really good chances. After we scored, we had two more.

“They scored a goal which was a series of events and mistakes that we’ve made positionally and doing the wrong thing defensively.

“That’s led to the first goal. We were out of shape and disjointed.

“From where we are, and where the linesman was, he should see that Luke saves the ball and then the lad’s gone into him.

“The linesman has held his hand out to say ‘I know, I’m on it’ because I was shouting to him that he had to tell the ref Luke had got the ball.

“The ref just gave the penalty and didn’t consult him.

“It was our own lack of quality in the box that got it to the stage of being a close game at that point. It shouldn’t have even been close.

“We’ve hit the bar and we’ve had chances that we should be at least hitting the target from. It happens to the best of teams.

“That’s not to say we’re going to accept it. We have to put it right and we have to put it right quickly.

“That’s (Grantham’s defeat) probably the only positive that’s come out of the result.

“Then again, it highlights a disappointing fact that we could have been in a much healthier position had we taken our chances.”

Carden also reported a couple of injuries that could leave him short of defensive cover for the return fixture against the Dabbers at Cantilever Park tomorrow, Tuesday.

Skipper Liam Goulding faces a race to be fit but Jay McEveley will miss the game, while Devarn Green has returned to parent club Tranmere upon the expiry of his loan deal.

“Jay McEveley won’t be fit. His hip flexor has flared up again,” he said.

“That’s probably come from playing 90 minutes on a heavy pitch having not played for a while.

“Devarn has gone back to Tranmere now.

“Liam Goulding got a nasty whack in the face and their lad got sent off for it.

“He’s had an x-ray and thankfully, we’ve had a little bit of luck in that there’s no fracture.

“We just have to see how he settles down and how he feels.

“He’s been immense for us this season and I just hope he’s okay. It would leave us a bit stretched at the back.”