Yellows let 2-0 lead slip at home to Basford
Ten-man Warrington Town dropped three more points at home as they squandered a two-goal lead to lose 3-2 against Basford United.
The Yellows were well on course for victory after goals from Jordan Buckley and Josh Amis, but a red card for Amis for a second bookable offence on the hour mark triggered a collapse.
Basford drew level and then won the game thanks to Joshua Scott’s acrobatic overhead kick with three minutes to play, to send the Yellows to a third successive defeat.
And it came exactly a fortnight after the Yellows had suffered further home heartache when they conceded an equaliser late in injury time against Buxton.
The evening could have ended much differently, as a change in system looked to have prompted a welcome victory, with both Buckley and Amis looking sharp up front.
Jay Harris returned to pivot the midfield, while Bohan Dixon also came back following a two-match absence to play at the top of the diamond.
After an ordinary quarter of an hour, punctuated by the first of two yellows dished out by a the referee, the game came to life when a lovely through ball by Dixon released the marauding Mitch Duggan from right-back and he was denied one-on-one by Adam Collin.
That opened the game up and Marcus Marshall thought he had got in, rounded Dan Atherton and was brought down for a cast-iron penalty – only for the assistant’s flag to be up for offside.
The deadlock was broken on 27 minutes when after some patient build-up on the left, Sean Williams curled in a teasing ball from the left that was just beyond Amis but found Buckley sliding in at the back post.
Buckley almost put one on a plate for Amis before half-time and Luke Griffiths had a deep free-kick tipped over as the Yellows went in good value for their 1-0 lead.
Basford made a lively start to the second half and fired an early warning shot when Ryan Wilson hit a well-struck left-foot shot from 25 yards that was tipped over by Atherton.
But a one goal lead became two on 55 minutes when the referee played an advantage following a foul on Harris, Duggan clipped a ball in for Amis, it hit him and went up in the air and then as it came down, Amis crashed home on the half volley.
It might have been a routine victory after that but everything change on the hour mark. After a few more yellow cards had been dished out by the referee, Amis received a second for a flailing arm in an aerial challenge with Stef Galinski, to go with the one he received in the first half for shoulder barging Brad Gascoigne in to the advertising hoardings.
That sent the Yellows in to retreat, and Basford came close to getting a goal back barely minutes later, Marcus Marshall bundling his way through and opening up his body to steer a shot agonisingly wide of Atherton’s left-hand post.
Their first goal did come with 20 minutes to go, Atherton making a fine save to deny Owen Betts,but left helpless when Wilson’s ball in fell for Gascogne to lash home.
Wilson’s delivery caused the Yellows problem all night and it was his free-kick on 83 minutes that ended in Matt Thornhill bundling home from close range for the equaliser after Atherton had denied Galinski.
Basford smelt blood, and although Collin was forced to save from Matt Grivosti’s shot, it was they who went on the hunt for a winner and were denied by a superb block by Evan Gumbs, making his first appearance of the season off the bench.
The winner came in some style three minutes from time, a cross bouncing up for Scott, who steered it home with a fine overhead kick from 10 yards out.
After the cup exit to Marine and Saturday’s away loss at South Shields, this was a third straight defeat for the Yellows – ahead of Saturday’s visit to Ashton United.
Warrington Town: Atherton, Duggan, Clarke, Harris (Grivosti), Roberts, Regan, Williams, Griffiths (Gumbs), Amis, Dixon, Buckley (Reid). Unused subs: Duffy, Mackreth.
Basford United: Collin, Betts, Wilson, Gascoigne, Galinski, Dunn, Hawkridge, Thornhill (Roma), Marshall, Richards (Fyfe), James (Scott).
