Warrington Town 2, Lancaster City 0: Goal in each half condemns City to defeat at the Wire

After a registration issue denied new acquisition Nathan Woodthorpe his debut at South Shields on Saturday, he was into the starting line-up against the Wire, and was joined by Bolton loanee Matthew Tweedley.

Warrington immediately put the visitors under pressure and Bohan Dixon almost gave the hosts an early lead

Receiving the ball just outside the area, he was given a license to shoot by the defenders backing away, and duly delivered with a superbly-struck shot which cannoned against the crossbar.

Much of the rest of the half was scrappy, and it appeared like it would end in stalemate until the hosts took the lead.

After a series of corners, Sean Williams clipped a cross into the near post where Tom Hannigan met with a header into the top corner.

Miscommunication between Niall Cowperthwaite and Woodthorpe, who were both chasing a bouncing through ball, let Jordan Buckley in just after the break, but Sam Waller dropped low to deflect the shot just wide.

After Lancaster enjoyed a brief spell of pressure, Warrington doubled their advantage. Williams recorded his second assist of the game with a delightful cross that found Buckley who stabbed it clinically past Waller.

Waller kept the scoreline from growing any further with a nifty low parry from another Dixon range attempt which fizzed through a forest of legs.

Fell made a raft of changes in the following 10 minutes, giving a debut to midfielder Shae Cannon who replaced Ed Ikpakwu, alongside the returning Joel Davidson and veteran Paul Jarvis who replaced Brad Carsley and Evangelinos respectively.

It steadied the ship and all of Lancaster’s debutants acquitted themselves ably over the course of the 90 minutes.

Unfortunately, the change in personnel was unable to rouse a revival as City suffered their second 2-0 defeat in four days.