2 weeks Ago
Quakers have thrown several points away in recent weeks when they’ve taken a goal lead, but after missing some good chances again at 2-0 on this occasion, they let Warrington back into the game in the second half and nearly lost it right at the end. Manager Steve Watson was both positive and frustrated after the game, and said: “I thought we created loads of chances, we had 60 entries into their box. We had 20 shots on target.
“It’s so frustrating because there were so many positives to come out of it. Some of the football in the first half and in the second half was really good. “Our confidence seems to be really low at the moment, which is surprising.
Before I came and we were second bottom of the table, confidence could have been low then, but it doesn’t need to be now. “It’s a mad league. After the results on Saturday, we’re still only six points from the play-offs.
A run of three or four wins puts us into the top ten. There’s no need to panic. “Warrington changed their system in the second half and got into the game, but we still created chances.
Their lad came on up front and caused problems, more than what he should have done. “We were exposed for the first goal, and for the second goal he got between two defenders for a good finish to be fair. “In the end, Pete Jameson had to make saves to keep us a point when they should have been dead and buried.
” The chances started in the first minute when Will McGowan set up Caden Kelly to have a shot blocked. That was quickly followed by Cedric Main side-footing wide from a Scott Barrow pull-back, and Kelly, who had an impressive game, forcing Warrington keeper Dan Atherton into a full-length save. Quakers took a deserved 20th minute lead when Barrow played a one-two with Main to get to the six-yard line, where Atherton blocked his effort, but the lurking Andrew Nelson side-footed the loose ball home for his fourth goal of the season.
Barrow had a powerful volley blocked on the six yard line before Quakers went 2-0 up. McGowan and Ali Alshabeeb combined down the right for Nelson to cross into the middle, where Warrington defender Murphy Bennett obligingly headed firmly into his own net. Kelly nearly scored a spectacular third, a long-range effort from the halfway line that almost caught Atherton off his line.
Warrington sent on sub Josh Amis at half-time and his strength and power became a key factor. But first, Barrow and Eliot Forbes both tested Atherton from distance, and Kelly dribbled through and side-footed wide. Alshabeeb was crowded out just a few yards from goal.
But Warrington pulled a goal back when Amis got away on the right, ran into the area, and firmly beat the advancing Jameson. Within minutes though, Main had a close-range header saved by the keeper, and Kelly’s follow up was blocked by a defender. Nelson also had an effort saved.
But Warrington got on top in the closing stages. Jameson saved well from Michael O’Neill and Conner Woods, but he had no chance with seven minutes left when Amis chested a through ball down, and scored with a left-foot shot. Jameson then had to be at his best to save from Josh Miles after he had dribbled through, then he saved point blank from Amis.
Even then in stoppage time, Nelson and Salkeld couldn’t convert chances..
