WARRINGTON Town beat league leaders South Shields 3-0 to go top of the table and keep up their impressive run.
A sublime goal by Bohan Dixon and second half strikes from Jake Kirby and Josh Amis made it seven games unbeaten without conceding a goal, including five straight wins.
It’s another marker for Paul Carden’s men who once again proved resolute in defence and contained their fancied opponents well throughout and took their chances when they came.
A bumper crowd, courtesy of a sizeable travelling support from South Shields, saw Alex Whittle make his Warrington Town debut having received international clearance.
It was his fellow full-back Mitch Duggan that created the first half opening in the very first minute of the match, his ball in from the right causing a few headaches in the South Shields defence, though Dixon’s header was far too weak to trouble the ‘keeper.
The right hand side would be the main source of threat from the Yellows in the first half as they went to go to man Jack Mackreth as often as possible with mixed results.
He did get one good ball in early doors, but he was largely hounded out by two defenders for large parts of a first half in which South Shields had a lot of possession without doing much with it.
And by the half hour mark, Warrington started to grow in the game with Robbie Evans started to get more control in midfield, and it was after he won the ball back that he drilled a shot over from the edge of the box.
The Yellows took the lead on 37 minutes when good work by Tony Gray fed the ball in to Dixon, who turned beautifully in to the box and then lashed a shot past the keeper.
The hosts certainly ended the first half with their tails up and could have doubled their lead when Vassallo won the ball back in midfield and after driving forward took a touch too many when a shooting chance had opened up on the edge of the box.
Warrington set about containing the visitors in the second half and the expected barrage never really came.
Carden was incensed on 72 minutes when a back pass was sliced up in to the air by South Shields goalkeeper Liam Connell, and he then punched it away off substitute Kirby’s head.
In the end, it was a mistake by South Shields that settled the game, a sloppy pass from a defensive free kick falling to Kirby, who hammered it past a helpless Connell for 2-0.
With Scarborough losing at home to Nantwich, Warrington went top of the league and added icing to the cake as substitute Josh Amis poked home from Ben Garrity’s pass late on.
Warrington are at home again on Tuesday night, against Mickleover Sports in the league, before welcoming AFC Telford United in the third qualifying round of the FA Cup on Saturday.
Warrington Town: McMillan, Duggan, Whittle, Garrity, Roberts, Raven, Mackreth, Evans, Gray (Amis), Dixon (Kirby), Vassallo (George). Unused subs: Carden, Dunn.
South Shields: Connell, Baxter, Brown (Lough), Shaw, Morse, Turnbull, Wright (Harmison), Ursene-Mouanda (Lowther), Mason, Briggs, Adams. Unused subs: Hunter, Lister.
Pictures John Hopkins
