Warrington Town progress in the FA Cup with 1-0 victory
MATT Grivosti’s second half goal was enough to secure safe passage to the next round of the FA Cup for Warrington Town away at Kendal.
The midfielder struck his second goal in less than a week minutes after half-time and it proved the only goal, as the Yellows struggled to put the hosts to bed.
A missed penalty from debutant Luke Griffiths could have provided breathing space, with Dan Atherton called in to action to deny substitute Eric Yahaya with his legs late on.
But on a day where several Northern Premier League clubs were sent crashing out, the Yellows progressed to be in Monday’s draw for the second qualifying round.
Although Kendal started brightly, the Yellows soon clicked in to control the game with Griffiths and Jay Harris showing nice touches in midfield.
The best chance of the first half fell to Grivosti, his spin and sharp rising left-footed shot tipped over the bar by busy home goalkeeper Sam Waller, making his Kendal debut having joined on loan from Burnley.
He denied Bohan Dixon and pushed away a Griffiths free-kick, and then when he was beaten by a Griffiths cross, Louis Jeanne got back to head Mitch Duggan’s header off the line.
Both Jeanne and centre-half partner Manuel Diop Parra had good games as Kendal continued to frustrate the Yellows, and had a half chance of their own on the stroke of half time when player-manager Chris Humphrey fizzed a deflected cross that was beaten away by Atherton.
The deadlock was broken on 51 minutes when Griffiths found some space for Grivosti on the right, and with his marker Chris Wraighte reluctant to dive in due to an earlier yellow card, Grivosti cut inside and then fired a low left-footed shot inside the keeper’s near post.
Five minutes later, Luke Duffy was tripped in the box by Jeanne and Griffiths stepped up, only for his penalty down the middle to be stopped by the outstretched leg of Waller.
Harris fired a shot just over the bar before Mark Roberts was denied by Waller, but in the final quarter, Kendal stepped up and started to come in to the game more.
Yahaya came off the bench and was immediately booked for a bizarre incident where he appeared to rip the ball out of Atherton’s hands, but he had an impact on the ground too – firing a shot a yard over the bar and then forcing a smart save by Atherton’s legs after he had been released in the box by Wraighte.
Jordan Buckley, who made a welcome return off the bench following a hamstring injury, had a couple of late chances to finish off the hosts, who just couldn’t create an opportunity to equalise – with Wraighte’s ambitious overhead kick in injury time their final chance.
Warrington Town are next in action away at Lancaster City in the league on Tuesday night.
Kendal Town: Waller, Fagan, Wraighte, Marsh, Jeanne, Parra, Gardner (Butterfield-Steede), McCaragher, Massamba (Yahaya), Humphrey, Varela. Unused subs: Salter, Ross.
Warrington Town: Atherton, Duggan, Clarke, Harris (Hough), Roberts, Regan, Grivosti, Griffiths, Amis, Dixon (Buckley), Duffy (Miller). Unused subs: Baillie, Shepherd, Wall, Corness.
