MARK Beesley hailed the team spirit and togetherness of his Warrington Town squad as they continued their perfect start to the new campaign.

Tom Hannigan’s header on the stroke of half-time – his first Yellows goal – was enough to see off Stalybridge Celtic on Tuesday night and make it two wins out of two for Town without conceding a goal.

In a game in which Beesley conceded his side were far from their best, he praised the willingness of his players to dig deep and pull through despite coming under pressure from the hosts during the second half.

> Read James Gordon's full match report here

“It was a tough game – I didn’t feel we were at our best tonight but sometimes you can’t be at your best,” he said.

“Even the top teams in the world aren’t at their best every week and in this league, it’s relentless.

“When you’re not at your best, it’s important you have that team spirit and togetherness to get you through nights like this.

“They put us under a lot of pressure in the second half but we withstood it very well.”

Hannigan’s goal came when he nodded home after centre-half partner Evan Gumbs headed Sean Williams’ corner into his path.

While the goal did not change Beesley’s assessment of his side’s first-half showing too much, he is pleased to see his side’s work on an area he had targeted for improvement bear early fruit.

“We spoke a lot about set pieces during pre-season as we didn’t do well enough from them last year.

“We’ve got a good delivery and movement so it’s important we capitalise on it as a lot of goals are scored from set pieces.

“We’ve got people who attack the ball so it’s good to see one pay off.

“The goal didn’t really change much because we weren’t happy – the lads weren’t happy and we weren’t happy on the sideline.

“We didn’t perform very well in the first half – we looked a bit leggy which can happen after playing in the heat on Saturday.

“We’ve got to give the lads huge credit for the way they stuck together and got through it.”

On Hannigan and Gumbs, he added: “The two of them have been excellent all through pre-season and in these first two games, they’ve shown what excellent players they are.

“To single them out might be a little unfair, though – young Josh Seary is getting better and better and Andy White is steady away every week. You know what you’re going to get from him.

“Along with the goalkeeper, the back four have been excellent over the two games but I think this was a whole team effort.

“It wasn’t happening for the wingers or forwards but they kept going – Josh Amis was winning headers at both ends and keeping hold of the ball. I thought it was a real good team performance.”