WARRINGTON Town were brought back down to earth with a bump as they were hammered 4-1 by Spennymoor Town.
The champions started life in tier seven of the football pyramid with a 2-0 win over Stourbridge on Saturday but were thoroughly outplayed by fellow promoted side Spennymoor.
The hosts held a deserved 2-0 lead at the break and a second half double from Graeme Armstrong put the game well beyond doubt, despite Gerard Kinsella’s strike.
After a scrappy opening on a lovely summer’s evening in the north east, Spennymoor gradually got a grip on the game from a quarter of an hour onwards.
James McCarten was forced to divert David Dowson’s dangerous ball out for a corner, the first in a succession of set pieces as Spennymoor built some pressure.
Karl Wills was called in to action for the first time to tip wide Craig Gott’s free-kick from the left, but his efforts weren’t enough on 23 minutes.
Spennymoor switched from defence to attack quickly down the right hand side, and the Yellows were guilty of leaving some runners free, enabling Mark Anderson to get a shot away which was saved by Wills, only for Dowson to be quickest to the rebound for 1-0.
That rattled Warrington, and they were well and truly on the back foot for much of the remainder of the first half.
Wills made a fine double save on the half hour mark, first pushing away Tom Craddock’s shot and then saving Dowson’s rebound effort with his legs.
He could do nothing about the second goal on 37 minutes as Spennymoor carved Warrington open from in front of the back four.
The Warrington bench were unhappy that the referee failed to call a foul on Sean Clancy in the build-up, and Dowson was able to play the ball through for Anderson, who sprung the offside trap and teed it up for a simple tap in for Craddock.
The visitors steadied the ship at the start of the second half, though it was 77 minutes before they could even muster a shot on target through Kinsella.
By that time, Spennymoor were already 3-0 up, having added a third from substitute Armstrong, who fired the ball through a ruck of bodies in the box after Warrington failed to clear a corner.
It could have been more had Spennymoor converted their chances, Anderson firing over from the edge of the box and then poking the ball wide on the counter attack.
The excellent Anderson also had a superb free-kick pushed wide by Wills.
Warrington did at least give their travelling band of supporters something to cheer, when Kinsella fired home from 15 yards off Ben Deegan’s lay-off in what was a carbon copy of a chance he had squandered moments earlier.
That encouraged the visitors to chuck a few more men forward in the closing stages, but all it did was expose them further at the back.
Armstrong added his second when he was allowed to control the ball and pick his spot from eight yards, and he nearly scored the most sublime hat-trick goals as his right-foot half volley came back off the crossbar.
Warrington will at least get the chance to redeem themselves with a run of three home games starting with Saturday’s visit of Grantham, followed by Whitby Town on Tuesday and Matlock Town on Saturday week, all at Cantilever Park.
James Dean in action – Picture John Hopkins
Skipper Ciaran Kilheeney challenges for the ball Picture John Hopkins
Consolation goal from Gerard Kinsella Picture John Hopkins
Spennymoor: Rafferty, Griffiths, Swain, Gott (Mason), Tait, Curtis, Chandler, Ramshaw (Johnson), Craddock (Armstrong), Dowson, Anderson. Unused subs: Lowson, Taylor.
Warrington: Wills, Turner, Clancy (Grogan), O’Donnell, McCarten, Ventre, Harries (Winder), Kinsella, Kilheeney (Deegan), Dean, Metcalfe. Unused subs: Rudge, Gillespie.
