YET again, Warrington Town will be wondering what might have been following a clash with a promotion rival.

While the draw at South Shields was an opportunity they could not quite carve out, this game was one they allowed to slip from their grasp.

Coury Grantham’s equaliser was soft in nature and will only serve to increase the frustration.

Bar a superb Tony McMillan save early in the second half, Basford were not really creating much but were able to head back down to Nottingham with a share of the spoils.

Credit to the visitors – they went up a level after half time and probably deserved a point.

> 'A game of two halves,' says Carden

For Town, though, they will wonder why they did not make more of a first half in which they were almost completely dominant.

It was a case of trial by Jacks for Basford’s defence – Dunn and Banister probed from wide while Mackreth bristled with intent through the middle.

The giant pairing of Brad Gascoigne and Stef Galinski were cleaning up everything in the air but when Town got the ball in behind them, they struggled to cope with Mackreth’s speed.

They had goalkeeper Kieran Preston and the woodwork to thank for not being several goals behind – his save from Ben Garrity was truly exceptional after Banister had hit the crossbar – but he could do nothing put stand and watch Dunn’s long-range piledriver nestle in his top corner.

It was a goal that would have got the Camp Nou off their feet, let alone Cantilever Park. It would have been fit to win any game.

Dunn looked incredibly dangerous in the first half and the visitors could not cope with his bewitching footwork and pace, but he is still building his fitness up again after injury and he naturally tired in the second half.

It was symptomatic of Town’s display as a whole after the break – a little laboured and like last week, a bit passive.

They invited Basford onto them – a dangerous game to play and they were duly punished as Grantham’s flicked header somehow found its way into the bottom corner.

Dropping off in the second half of games has now happened two weeks in a row. For a team that prides itself on going until the very end, it is a slightly worrying kink.

So Yellows emerge from two games against teams around them with two points from a possible six.

Whether you like to call that unbeaten or winless, it cannot be denied that they should have been looking at a lot more.