WARRINGTON Town made it six away wins on the bounce with a 4-1 win at Radcliffe Boro.
Shaun Reid’s side scored two goals in either half to continue building momentum in their push for the play-offs, despite losing Craig Robinson to a red card after the break.
Town got off to a dream start, as they so often did last season during the unbeaten run that contributed to their best ever league finish, when David Mannix curled in a free kick inside two minutes. Scott Metcalfe was brought down cheaply on the left flank, and Mannix’s free kick caught out the home goalkeeper and found the far corner.
It was 2-0 on 10 minutes, Mannix turning provider this time, again from a set piece, with centre half James McCarten nodding home in to the bottom corner.
The Radcliffe ‘keeper had barely touched the ball, aside from picking it out the net, but he got down to make a smart save midway through the first half to deny man of the match Nathan Burke.
It looked like being a comfortable afternoon for Warrington, until Radcliffe found an unlikely way back in to the match five minutes before the break.
Metcalfe committed a foul out wide, and from the resulting free kick, David Brown headed past Karl Wills.
Half time came at the right time for Warrington, and within three minutes of the restart, they had restored their two goal lead.
The superb Burke trapped a strong pass on the edge of the box, turned, and unleashed a half volley in to the bottom corner for 3-1.
The game threatened turn sour after that, Robinson seeing red for an apparent elbow on former team-mate Steve Foster, who only left Warrington to join Radcliffe last week.
Burke nearly made it four when he latched on to a long kick by Wills and lobbed the Radcliffe ‘keeper, only to see the ball fall just wide.
A fourth goal did come, in stoppage time, when young substitute Ben Collins pinched the ball from the ‘keeper and found the empty net.
Town are next in action in the Doodson Sport Cup quarter-finals against Leek Town on Wednesday night.
Pictured: Town players celebrate David Mannix’s opener (top), James McCarten heads home the second (bottom) and Scott Metcalfe congratulates Ben Collins on his first Warrington goal (above right)
Radcliffe: Cheetham, Brown, Woods, Lafferty, McGrath, Lambert, Beadle, Davies, Foster (Burey), McMahon, Van Gils (Rokka).
Warrington: Wills, Field, Hardwick, Mannix, McCarten, Robinson, Beattie, Burke (Collins), Wharton (Corrigan), Gahgan (Kinsella), Metcalfe. Unused subs: Booth, Turner.
