Warrington Town win promotion, play-off final verdict

IT wouldn’t be Warrington Town if they did it the easy way.

Down to 10 men as the game neared its end, you feared it may be third time unlucky and that they would be consigned to yet more play-off final heartbreak.

Isaac Buckley-Ricketts, however, had other ideas.

He has scored some pivotal goals off the bench this season, but his 90th-minute winner here will sit alongside Craig Robinson’s goal against Exeter City as the most significant in the club’s history.

The wild celebrations that followed Isaac Buckley-Ricketts' winning goal (Image: Karl Vallantine)

It allowed them to unlock a door they have been trying to kick down for six long years and take the fabled step into National League football.

Was it their most polished performance? Not really. Will they care? Absolutely not.

It was a nervy contest from the get-go as both sides struggled to create clear-cut chances – Cantilever Park had been bouncing all day but you could almost hear a pin drop such was the tension.

Both sides effectively cancelled each other out with nerves undoubtedly playing a part. Given what was on the line, that was hardly surprising.

They were limited to one big chance each in the first half while after the break, things became even cagier as the more time went on, the more costly it would be to blink first.

Then came what looked like it may be the pivotal moment when Josh Amis – a talismanic figure for the side this season as well as being their top scorer – was sent off with 10 minutes of normal time left.

As he trudged off with his head in his hands having been caught shoving Bamber Bridge skipper Macauley Wilson in the face before a corner was taken, he could not have thought he would have been joyously lifting the trophy not half an hour later.

There were painful thoughts back to this time last year, when Town were hamstrung by Mitch Duggan’s red card and ultimately subsided to defeat at Scarborough Athletic.

Still, his side adjusted magnificently in the faith their one chance would come. It did and when the net bulged, the place went wild.

Buckley-Ricketts did not get the cleanest of contacts on the ball as he diverted Jay Harris' effort goalwards, but it was enough to deceive Felix Goddard in the Bamber Bridge goal.

A scrappy goal befitting of a game that was far from a classic, but this one was all about the destination as opposed to the journey and after years of play-off heartache, it's about time Town had a little bit of fortune.

Now, as opposed to more trips to the same old grounds, they can look forward to welcoming the likes of Scunthorpe United, Southport and the like to Cantilever Park, which will surely be full to bursting many more times from August onwards.

Finally, they can call themselves a National League football club and the game in this town takes another giant step forward.

More celebrations of Isaac Buckley-Ricketts' winner (Image: Sean Walsh)