WARRINGTON Town came from behind to avoid a shock home defeat against the National League North’s bottom club.
Substitute Matty Grivosti netted the winner with his first touch after coming off the bench, slotting home the rebound after Josh Amis had been denied.
Before then, Bishop’s Stortford had stunned Cantilever Park by taking a shock lead, with Mark Haines crashing home from close range after a corner had dropped into his path.
However, that served to wake Mark Beesley’s side up, with Isaac Buckley-Ricketts slamming home an equaliser from a short corner before Grivosti’s winner allowed them to move to within a point of the play-off spots.
> Here's what Town boss Mark Beesley had to say about the game
Read Matt Turner's verdict on the game below
AS the old saying goes, “a win is a win.”
It certainly won’t go down as a vintage Warrington Town display as they made heavy weather of beating a side who had lost 12 of their past 13 league games.
Indeed, they had to come from behind to do it as Bishop’s Stortford belied their status as being seemingly doomed to relegation.
The lead Mark Haines gave them just shy of the hour mark was deserved for an industrious and increasingly threatening display.
Mark Beesley says every week that there is no such thing as an easy National League North game, and he was being proved annoyingly right as his side produced a flat showing.
That said, they were still producing the game's best chances even if they were far from their best, but as time went on they found themselves getting increasingly frustrated by a combination of their own display, the success the visitors were having and being on the wrong end of some questionable decisions from referee Richard Holmes.
All of a sudden, though, they woke up and found another gear to themselves over the line.
Their salvation came by way of Matty Grivosti – on the field for barely a minute and his first touch of the ball proved to be the most crucial of them all as he tapped home the rebound after visiting keeper had palmed Josh Amis’ effort into his path.
That came shortly after Isaac Buckley-Ricketts, who had endured a frustrating afternoon, crashed home from a short corner, beating Giddens at his near post.
For that, they deserve credit - to borrow another tired footballing cliche, "good teams win ugly."
Perhaps it was the unfamiliar territory that threw them off – those who packed into Cantilever Park were expecting a handsome victory and a boost to the goal difference, but things are never that easy.
In that respect, it is another tick in the box and their dreams of a play-off push that seemed so unlikely remain alive with 10 games remaining.
They will need to be better going forward, but they have managed to spring themselves from jail.
Warrington Town: Atherton, White (Pasiek), Gumbs (Walker), Harris, Woods, Williams, Amis, McDonald (Buckley-Ricketts), Wisdom, Clarke. Subs not used: Goudie, Gill
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