Town march on in FA Trophy

VIDEO: WARRINGTON Town remain on the Wembley trail in the FA Trophy thanks to a 2-0 win over Brighouse Town.

Two first half goals were enough to dispose of their Yorkshire opponents in the first qualifying round of the competition, which culminates with a final at the national stadium next year.

James McCarten’s free kick and Ciaran Kilheeney’s flick from Scott Metcalfe’s corner both in the first half proved the difference between the two sides.

It was a 10th win in 11 games for Shaun Reid’s side, who once again kept a clean sheet despite not being at their best.

Brighouse failed to take advantage of a slow start by the Yellows, though they did have the ball in the net on six minutes through Ryan Hall’s tidy finish, but he had been flagged offside.

Hall then came within a lick of paint of finding the back of the net again on nine minutes, his shot across the goalkeeper coming back off the inside of the far post.

Striker Ernest Boafo forced Karl Wills to tip over the bar having created space for himself in the box.

But pressure means little without goals, and Warrington delivered the sucker punch on 19 minutes.

Ben Deegan won a free kick on the edge of the box, and up-stepped James McCarten who curled it straight in to the keeper’s bottom left corner for 1-0.

That stifled Brighouse’s early momentum and Warrington started to dictate the play.

They doubled their lead shortly after the half hour mark following a succession of corners.

Metcalfe’s in-swinger from the right was diverted home by Kilheeney after he got in front of his man at the front post.

The two goal cushion gave Warrington a platform to contain the visitors in the second half and it took until the hour mark for Brighouse to threaten the goal again, when Wills stopped Daniel Facey’s shot from a narrow angle.

The dangerous Boafo forced a smart stop from Wills at his near post after cutting in from the left, and then had his deflected free kick well stopped by the keeper.

As time went on, Brighouse’s chance of progressing was slowly diminishing and it showed in their play.

It was Warrington who looked most likely to add a goal in the final stages, substitute Ben Wharton going close late on as he hunted for his seventh goal of the week having scored six for the reserves on Thursday night.

Warrington return to league action next Saturday at home to Bamber Bridge (3pm).

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Warrington Town: Wills, Brown, McQuade, Ventre (Grogan), McCarten, O’Donnell, Gahgan, Burke, Kilheeney, Deegan (Wharton), Metcalfe. Unused subs: Robinson, Lester, Rudge.

Brighouse Town: Hagreen, Field, Fisher, Wilson (Hurtley), Hewitt, Allison (Harris), Hall, Thornton, Facey (Henry), Boafo, Baldwin. Unused subs:n Pollard, Stead.

Video highlights courtesy of JW Sports Filming & Analysis