Warrington Town 2 Buxton 1

WARRINGTON born and bred, Dom Reid ensured fans of the town’s premier football team will have a very merry Christmas.

Despite Warrington Town looking distinctly second-best for most of the game, his injury-time winner crushed the spirit of an impressive Buxton side.

It came just minutes after Jack Dunn had stroked home a penalty to equalise as Town made it four wins in a row.

They trailed at the break to Alex Brown’s goal as the visitors controlled much of the game, but they were left to reflect on what might have been.

Having not played for two weeks, there was perhaps a bit of ring rust in the Yellows ranks and it certainly showed after a bright start.

Ben Garrity could not quite force home Jack Mackreth’s free kick, but from then on Buxton seized the ascendancy.

Former Town striker James Dean was a powerful focal point up front, with the likes of John Pritchard, Liam Hardy and Callum Chippendale allowed to move freely around him.

It was one of those three that was the architect of the opening goal as Pritchard got to the byline and stood up a teasing cross.

With the Town defence focused on Dean, Brown was allowed to sneak in unnoticed to head home.

It was only the 10th league goal Yellows had conceded all year, and it seemed as though they did not quite know how to respond.

Their full-backs were being pushed right back and prevented from affecting the game in attack, while Tony Gray and Bohan Dixon both found themselves swamped every time the ball came anywhere near them.

Mackreth has so often been a game-changer for them but he had met his match in Brown, a regular England C international who marshalled him well on the wing.

Buxton themselves were not creating much in the way of chances, but they comfortably held onto their advantage at the interval.

No doubt after some stern words from manager Paul Carden, Yellows started the second half brightly and set about pushing Buxton back.

However, due to a combination of poor decision-making and decent defending, they struggled to create a clear-cut opening.

Robbie Evans hit their first shot on target of the game, but it was an easy one for goalkeeper Theo Roberts to hold.

At the other end, Callum Chippendale had a low shot held by Charlie Albinson before Dean flashed a volley over.

Indeed, the visitors remained calm and came within inches of doubling their lead.

A superb free-kick found the head of Scott Sephton, whose glancing header crashed off the post.

That was the cue for the game opening up, and Yellows had the best chance through substitute Connor McCarthy.

He cut inside onto his right foot and bent an effort towards the top corner, but Roberts pulled off a superb save to deny him.

Albinson was then called into action again to push behind an Ash Young free kick as Buxton’s belief grew that they could infact double their lead.

However, that chance evaporated with five minutes left.

Reid burst into the area and was shoved over, giving referee Adam Brown no option but to point to the spot.

Dunn stepped up and sent Roberts the wrong way to set up a grandstand finish as both sides fancied a winner.

It looked as if both sides would have to settle for a draw, until a stunning late intervention.

After several balls into the box were cleared, Reid curled a superb effort beyond Roberts to spark wild celebrations.

Warrington Town: Albinson, Duggan, Hughes, Garrity, Roberts, Raven, Mackreth (Reid), Evans, Gray (McCarthy), Dixon (Amis), Dunn. Subs not used: Gumbs, Vassallo