WARRINGTON Town ended their league season in defeat, losing 2-1 at Clitheroe, to finish 9th in Northern Premier League Division One North.
Louis Mayers scored two very well taken goals either side of a Ben Collins strike to earn the hosts victory at Shawbridge, and condemn Warrington to their 15th league defeat.
It was a game that was perhaps typical of a campaign that has been understandably affected by the club’s historic run in the FA Cup, particularly as boss Shaun Reid had one eye on Thursday night’s Doodson Sport Cup final against Farsley.
Youngsters Josh Kavanagh and Niall Ford started at the back, Joshua Hayes played in midfield and Ben Collins up front, while Phil Bannister and Anthony Hickey were also handed rare starts, as several first team regulars were left watching from the sidelines.
It was young forward Collins who had the game’s first real chance, latching on to Bannister’s hopeful ball forward, taking it off a defender and then squeezing a reverse shot just wide of the keeper’s left hand post.
At the other end, Mayers and Sefton Gonzales were always a threat for the hosts, and Mayers was left wondering how he hadn’t broken the deadlock on 19 minutes, when Karl Wills somehow got a hand to a header from point blank range, which resulted in the ball spinning just wide of the post.
Mayers’ presence was certainly causing problems for Town, and minutes later from a right wing cross, Wills flapped at the ball, only to recover in time to comfortably save Joseph Mullen’s poorly struck shot.
Neither side could claim true dominance in the opening quarter, Hickey forcing a save out of the Clitheroe goalkeeper with a fiercely hit left foot shot on the bounce to earn Town’s first corner.
The deadlock was broken though by the home side on 35 minutes. Mayers received a throw in without much in front of him, drove in from the right and then smashed a low left footed shot right in to the corner to give Clitheroe a 1-0 lead that they took in to the half time break.
Mayers almost had his second shortly before the hour mark when his curling free kick was tipped over the bar by Wills, but Warrington were left to feel hard done to moments later when substitute Chris Gahgan went down in the box, only to be shown a yellow card for handball having reached out for the ball having had his legs taken from under him.
Collins, now partnered by Ben Wharton up front, was starting to get some sights of goal, and having had two efforts smothered by Callum Jacoulevs, he finally got the better of the goalkeeper to equalise.
Bannister slotted a through ball in to Collins inside the box, and as Jacoulevs failed to grasp it, the young striker took it round him, cut inside a defender and then placed it in to the far corner.
But parity only lasted for 10 minutes, as Clitheroe finished the strongest. Having been denied by a superb last ditch tackle by Kavanagh minutes before, Mayers found the net for a second time, taking a ball forward in with a superb turn that left Craig Robinson for dead, and then steadying himself to shoot across Wills.
That restored Clitheroe’s lead, and they never looked like surrendering it in the closing stages.
Warrington Town’s bid for silverware takes them to Stockport County’s Edgeley Park ground to face Farsley in the Doodson Sport Cup final on Thursday, 7.45pm kick-off.
The Warrington Town barmy army in fancy dress as the look ahead to the club’s first cup final in 20 years.
Clitheroe: Jacoulevs, Burns, Bamba (Walker), Bonaminio, Brady, Dent, Mullen, Lynch, Mayers, Garner (Cattermole), Gonzales (Hargreaves). Unused subs: Esdaille, Bromley.
Warrington: Wills, Kavanagh, Corrigan, Beattie, Ford, Hardwick (Robinson), Bannister, Kinsella (Gahgan), Hickey, Collins, Hayes (Wharton). Unused subs: Metcalfe, Turner.
