MARK Beesley admits there was plenty of disappointment in the Warrington Town dressing room after their 1-1 draw with Atherton Collieries last night.

On the balance of play, however, he believes a share of the spoils was about right and that his side took “a good point in the end.”

Former Town striker Scott Bakkor, who finished last season with cross-town neighbours Warrington Rylands, netted a second-half equaliser to ensure Colls left Cantilever Park with a point, sliding home after Yellows failed to deal with a free kick.

> Read our full verdict on the game here

Set pieces proved a fruitful avenue for the visitors with defender Luca Hansen twice unlucky not to score, hitting the bar in the first half before seeing another header cleared off the line.

It was a well-worked free kick routine that got Town into a half-time lead as Jordan Buckley – making his first start of the season – poked home after Sean Williams and Andy White had combined to set him up.

Beesley admits his side were “hanging on” at times in the second half following Bakkor’s equaliser but believed his side could have edged to victory had they made more of a strong finish to the game.

“There is a disappointment because you want to try and win every home game,” he said.

“We were a little disappointed in the way we played but in the end, it’s probably a point gained.

“In the first half, they had a great chance from a set piece and they caused us problems all night from set pieces – we didn’t deal with it.

“We weren’t at our fluent best but to come in 1-0 up was good.

“I thought we started the second half reasonably well, but we had a 20-minute spell where we were hanging on.

“We came good at the end and could have nicked it, but a draw was a fair result.”

Beesley made a triple substitution midway through the second half to try and wrestle back momentum as Josh Amis, Stefan Mols and Luke Duffy were all sent on.

The latter two had a big impact with Duffy having Town’s best chance, caressing a shot agonisingly wide having beaten two defenders.

“We knew Jordan (Buckley) only really had an hour in him, so him coming off was always on the cards,” Beesley said.

“We just thought we needed some fresh legs and I thought that helped a little bit.

“We started to get some control back as the game went on and with a couple of better finishes in the end, we could have nicked a result.

“They had a good system, they’re well coached and they were well thought-out. They played a diamond and it caused us problems at time because we had no control.

“The ball was too front-to-back for our liking. We needed better control of the ball in the middle and deeper thirds to draw them out a bit.

“Playing long against a side playing a diamond played into their hands a little bit. That was where they wanted to play and that’s what we had to learn.

“They pressed us well with good energy and we have to be better at dealing with it.”