Warrington Town 5-1 Lancaster City: Brown sees his Blues punished

Lancaster City's heavy defeat at Warrington was a continuation of a poor display in their FA Cup exit at Shaw Lane according to boss Phil Brown.
Oliver Wood.Oliver Wood.
Oliver Wood.

The Dolly Blues were seen off 5-1 at Cantilever Park on Tuesday night having lost their third qualifying round tie 2-1 in Barnsley on Saturday.

It was a rare night to forget for City who have gone from strength to strength in the Evo-Stik Premier Division since their First Division North title win in April.

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“I thought Tuesday night was a deterioration of the Shaw Lane performance,” said Brown.

“In the last two games we’ve lost our focus and switched off.

“Our big strength has always been our work ethic and our organisation.

“On Saturday we just lacked a little bit of resilience and didn’t seem to be able to cope with their direct style.

“We were always in the game though and scored a good goal.

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“On the flip side though we’d scored a few goals in previous games and didn’t take the chances we had and we had four good ones.

“It ultimately cost us and it was a missed opportunity.

“Against Warrington we didn’t hit the levels needed and were punished.

“It was two disappointing performances and two disappointing results.”

At Warrington, the hosts went in front just three minutes in when Barrigan hit a low shot into the net as the high-fliers, who ended the night in second place, got up and running.

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It was two 10 minutes before the break when former Salford City man Josh Hine was played through on goal and made no mistake.

The Dolly Blues were then dealt an injury blow when Rob Henry limped off with a groin problem, Glenn Steel taking his place.

City improved in the early stages of the second half as they looked for a way back into the game but it was seemingly over as a contest on 64 minutes, a fine volley from Sean Williams angling into corner of the net to make it 3-0.

The visitors were next to score however and potentially set up an unlikely comeback, Oliver Wood getting the final touch from a corner 11 minutes from time.

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But less than 60 seconds later a shot from distance by Caleb Richards got the better of Josh Powell and Warrington had their three-goal advantage once again.

The fifth goal came in the third minute of added time, Jamie McDonald on target on a chastening night for the Dolly Blues.

Warrington Town: McMillan, Goulding, McKeown, Gumbs, McCarten, Higgins (Kinsella), Hine (Sanogo), Richards, McDonald, Williams, Barrigan (Hughes). Subs not used: Carden, Baker.

Lancaster City: Powell, Henry (Steel), Dugdale, Wills, Westwood, Mercer, Winder (Meulensteen), Carney, Kilifin, C Bailey (Wood), Harries. Subs not used: S Bailey, Tam.