Trafford receive a very dubious sending off! - Warrington Town 3 v 1 TRAFFORD
Trafford produced an excellent performance on Saturday but found themselves on the wrong end of some highly dubious refereeing decisions and fell to a 3-1 defeat.
Despite not playing for a fortnight, Trafford were bright and creative from the start and after just eight minutes Andy Lundy had a great chance from 10 yards but fired straight at Paul Pritchard.
Pritchard then held a Lundy header as the visitors continued to dominate but the turning point of the game arrived in the 16th minute when the hard-pressed home keeper saved a goal-bound flick from Adam Turner and immediately sent a long punt downfield.
Trafford goalkeeper Tom Read left his area and appeared to clear the ball with a header. However, the referee thought otherwise and after consulting his assistant, awarded Warrington a free kick and sent off the distraught Read for alleged handball.
Skipper Paul Ashton donned the keeper's jersey and amazingly for long spells the ten men of Trafford more than held their own.
However, in the 33rd minute disaster struck once more when Warrington winger Chris Gaghan broke clear in an offside position but was denied by a brave save by Ashton. The ball fell kindly to Chris Thompson 25 yards out and he crashed a magnificent drive into the top corner to put his team ahead.
Undaunted, Trafford continued to play some slick, possession football and Lundy shot over from the edge of the area in the 38th minute.
Two minutes later, Warrington struck again when Sam Finley brilliantly sped past three static Trafford defenders and crossed for Alan Collins to tap home from two yards.
The ten men of Trafford now had a mountain to climb but their second half performance was magnificent.
In the 57th minute Tommy Turner squandered a great chance to reduce the arrears when sent clear but Pritchard was quick off his line to block.
Matters got even worse for the visitors in the 63rd minute when Town went 3-0 ahead, the Trafford defence only half-clearing a cross from the left and Chris Thompson sending an acrobatic but speculative volley from the edge of the area that flew into the top corner.
Despite this, Trafford continued to play with great spirit and verve and in the 66th minute substitute Warren Collier flighted a superb cross to the back post where Danny White headed clinically past Pritchard.
Garry Vaughan's young side battled to the end and in the 85th minute Jamie Baguley almost snatched a second but his curling free kick was well saved by Pritchard.
The game came to a close with Trafford emerging with great credit for their spirited and battling performance but reflecting on a series of controversial refereeing decisions that had cost them dearly.
Trafford are in Evo Stik League action once again on Saturday when they entertain Radcliffe Borough at Shawe View, kick off 3 p.m. and then on Tuesday night they travel over to the Wirral to play Cammell Laird FC, kick off 7-45 p.m
