Warrington Town 1 Gloucester City 2, National League North

Harry Pinchard strode through and slotted home with what was effectively the last kick of the game to steal three points for the Tigers, who had earlier equalised through substitute Ben Beresford’s first touch of the ball midway through the second half.

Connor Woods had capped a lively start for Yellows with an early opener, but Town slip to their first defeat when opening the scoring in more than two years.

Town had started well against Gloucester, with Connor Woods giving them an early lead with his third goal in two matches (Image: Sean Walsh)

Matt Turner's verdict on proceedings below

IF ever there was a lesson in ruthlessness, this was it.

Warrington Town had the game in the palm of their hands but somehow contrived to lose it to end a proud record that had stretched for more than two years.

Not since February 2022 had they lost a game when scoring first and when Connor Woods arrowed in an early opener, that run looked in no danger.

They had chances aplenty to extend that lead but through their own profligacy and some strong goalkeeping from Gloucester’s Jacob Dennis, they could not shut the door on their relegation-threatened visitors.

Matty McDonald goes on the attack (Image: Sean Walsh)

When Ben Beresford plundered an equaliser out of nothing, it looked as though an unconvincing yet merited win was about to turn into a deeply frustrating draw.

However, thanks to a 95th-minute winner from the appropriately-named Harry Pinchard, that turned into a highly disappointing and inexplicable home loss.

For the second home game in a row, Town were taught a lesson in clinical finishing – Gloucester had three clear-cut chances and two of them ended up in the back of Dan Atherton’s net, with all three opportunities opened up off the back of defensive mistakes.

Yellows’ inability to find a killer second goal had cost them dearly and there were enough chances to do so. Had it arrived, there would have been no coming back.

Dennis deserves credit for some excellent saves, most notably from Josh Amis in the second half when he looked set to sweep home from close range.

In the main, though, the striker was well-shackled by the defensive duo of Harlain Mbayo and former Town man Tyrone Duffus and by the time Beresford had equalised, a knee injury had forced Amis off the field.

Josh Amis battles with his former Town teammate Tyrone Duffus (Image: Sean Walsh)

That meant Mark Beesley had no more attacking cards to play from his bench and they struggled to create anything meaningful in response but as the saying goes, if you can’t win a game, make sure you don’t lose.

Was this the team’s worst defeat of the season? Perhaps not in terms of overall performance but the manner of how it came about puts it up there.

Now, they face the small matter of league giants Scunthorpe United’s visit next weekend to start a gruelling run of four games in nine days.

Warrington Town: Atherton, Hannigan, Gumbs (Walker), Harris, Woods, Williams, Amis (Pasiek), McDonald, Buckley-Ricketts, Wisdom, Clarke. Subs not used: Goudie, Brooks, Smalley