PAUL Carden described his Warrington Town side’s performance in today’s 1-1 draw with Halesowen Town as “laboured.” as they dropped points at home.

Jamie McDonald had given Town a second-half lead at a hot and sunny Cantilever Park, but the lowly Yeltzmen earned a point through substitute Roland Agbor’s equaliser.

Report: Yellows 1 Halesowen 1

It leaves Warrington still needing a point from their final two games to secure a home play-off tie, but another win would assure them of second place.

Yellows dominated much of the game, but Carden admitted a creative spark was missing from his side.

“I thought we were laboured in our play,” he told the Guardian.

“We were asking the lads to play with tempo on a hot day, which is hard. We knew they would just drop in and bank up.

“We were frustrating because we had so much control in the first half but we didn’t do enough with it. That was because we didn’t pass the ball quick enough.

“If you take as many touches as we did on a warm day and on a dry pitch, you lose your energy.

“Their block wasn’t shifting and we weren’t moving it because we weren’t passing it quick enough.

“We got ourselves in front, but it was poor defending for the equaliser.

“We were too slow. You can have 80 per cent possession like we did, but it’s about how you use it and we never did enough with it.”

Halesowen were happy to let Town have the ball in defence and midfield, but they struggled to create chances despite almost completely monopolising possession.

Carden thinks the hot conditions may have played a part in his team’s conservative play.

“We got our goal and it’s a good goal, but it was about pace, moving the ball and getting down the sides of them,” he said.

“We only did that a couple of times because we were happy not to risk it enough in the final third.

“Mekhi (Leacock-McLeod) showed flashes at times but obviously tired.

“His game is about sprint after sprint, so he’s going to flag up on a warm day like this.

“We were coming back into midfield too much. Our wide men were too happy to turn back and pass it inside into midfield.

“That’s not how we play, but maybe the weather was a factor.”

Before today, Town were still in with a slim chance of catching leaders Altrincham, but the Robins’ 2-0 win at Grantham confirmed their promotion to the National League as champions.

They have led the league for most of the season, but had to survive a scare when Yellows closed to within a point of overhauling them last month.

With their mathematical hopes of winning the title over, Carden was quick to send his congratulations to the newly-crowned champions

“Congratulations to Altrincham. They have been the stand-out team this season,” he said.

“They’ve been top of the league since October.

“They had a wobble and we were breathing down their necks, but they rode it out and came good again. That’s the sign of a good team.

“All credit to Phil Parkinson and all their players. Hopefully we’ll be joining them through the play-offs.”