Report: Warrington Town 2-1 Rushall Olympic
Jordan Buckley chose the perfect time to open up his National League North account by striking a late winner for Warrington Town at home to Rushall Olympic.
Buckley latched on to a superb long ball by ‘keeper Dan Atherton deep in to injury time, took the ball in to the box and lashed home to complete a comeback from a goal behind to win 2-1.
Isaac Buckley-Ricketts had equalised early in the second half after the visitors had taken the lead in a game that was delayed by 25 minutes due to the late arrival of Rushall because of traffic problems on the M6.
They got off to the perfect start when the league’s top goalscorer Daniel Waldron found the back of the net inside three minutes, hammering home the rebound from a penalty. Waldron had been brought down himself by Atherton in the box, and though the ‘keeper saved the spotkick with his legs, Waldron got to the loose ball first.
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The Yellows suffered a further blow when veteran defender Peter Clarke was forced off injured inside the first 10 minutes, replaced by Tom Hannigan.
Mitch Duggan had the first real chance for the Yellows, latching on to a fine pick out by Bohan Dixon, beating his man close to the byline and then being denied by Jacob Weaver from a tight angle.
Rushall lost Waldron to a knock midway through the first half, and his replacement Tyrell Skeen-Hamilton then set up a chance for Callum Coyle that was beaten away by Atherton at the near post.
The best chance for the hosts in the first half fell for Aaron Bennett, his drive goalwards well held by Weaver after Buckley-Ricketts had squared the ball across on a counter attack.
Buckley-Ricketts was the man to get the Yellows back on level terms within four minutes of the restart, taking advantage of space cleared by Josh Amis from Atherton’s long clearance, sitting the ‘keeper down and firing low in to the corner.
That ripped up any plans Rushall might have had to sit in and hold on, but they were given little choice at times, as the Yellows piled forward.
Weaver made a fine double save to deny Amis and Duggan, and then Bennett struck the face of the post off Amis’ lay-off.
The ball did find the net on 70 minutes, bundled in at the back post by Connor Woods after a couple of flick-ons, but the flag was up for offside.
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It looked like the Yellows would be left frustrated until three minutes into injury time, Atherton plucked a Rushall free-kick out of the air and launched Buckley away on the counter-attack.
Buckley took the ball down, run at his man and fired left-footed past Weaver to grab the points and score his first goal of the season.
Warrington Town: Atherton, Walker, White, Woods (Grivosti), Amis, Dixon, Buckley-Ricketts, Duggan, Wisdom, Clarke (Hannigan), Bennett (Buckley). Unused subs: Goudie, Gill.
Rushall Olympic: Weaver, Nkalambi-Masidi, Hudson, Fletcher, Brown, Clarke, Coyle (Carvalho-Landell), Moore, Waldron (Skeen-Hamilton), Gosling (Sullivan), Tonks. Unused subs: Cooper, Munakandafa.
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