Warrington Town lose two-goal lead to lose at home to Nantwich Town

WARRINGTON Town hit the self-destruct button as they threw away a two-goal lead and fell to a home loss against Nantwich.

The Yellows were 2-0 up with ten minutes to go through goals from Lewis Codling and Jay McCarten, but Sean Cooke pulled one back for the Dabbers to start the collapse.

Curtis Jones headed them level from a corner before Cooke curled home a free-kick in the dying seconds to leave the hosts stunned.

Stuart Mellish’s side had started on the front foot after keeper Karl Wills was forced into an early save to deny Theo Stair from distance.

They took the lead with ten minutes gone when a raking ball from McCarten found Scott Metcalfe galloping away down the left.

His pull-back found Codling, who steadied himself before smashing home at the near post.

The visitors enjoyed plenty of possession but failed to trouble Wills as Warrington defended stoutly, even coming close when Gerard Kinsella hooked the ball over from McCarten’s knock down.

The second half followed a similar pattern, with the Dabbers patiently probing but finding the home defence in no mood to concede.

Town were content to hit their opponents on the counter-attack, but it was a set-piece that allowed them to double their lead.

Mike Grogan knocked down a corner which caused panic in the visitors defence, allowing McCarten to steer home.

That looked to have wrapped up the points for the Yellows, but Nantwich had other ideas and they were back in the game as a mix-up between Wills and McCarten allowed Cooke to stab home.

The goal ruined Town’s hopes of a first clean sheet since the opening day of the season, but it was to get much worse.

Nantwich equalised when Jones rose high above the home defence from a corner to plant a powerful header past a helpless Wells.

Neither side was willing to settle for a point, with Grogan forcing a save from the Dabbers keeper before Wills had to be at his best to deny substitute Dave Walker in a one-on-one.

However, a free-kick was awarded seconds later and Cooke curled an exquisite strike into the top corner.

Town: Wills, Wylie, Metcalfe, Ventre, McCarten, Shaw (Grogan), Codling (Harries), Kinsella (Winder), Kilheeney, Gillespie, Lenighan. Unused subs: Nicholas, Cook.