WARRINGTON Town dropped points for the first time this season as they were held 1-1 at Belper Town.
Sean Williams’ equaliser on the stroke of half time cancelled out Luke Mangham’s opener from the penalty spot.
The Yellows made all the running in the second half but couldn’t find a way through, while both teams ended with 10 men after a double red card.
Jay Harris returned to the Warrington team having missed the win at Stalybridge on Tuesday night.
The right hand side looked like a fruitful avenue for the Yellows early on, and Isaac Buckley-Ricketts should have done better when he tried to sweep Luke Duffy’s cross goalwards, almost missing his kick completely.
The man marking Buckley-Ricketts, Ben Rhodes, was forced off injured after 14 minutes and his replacement Oliver Lobley would also go off injured in the second half.
Neither side registered a shot on target until a speculative effort by Duffy on 29 minutes was caught by Ross Durrant.
A minute later though, Belper had taken the lead.
Hard-working Mangham was felled by Tom Hannigan at the edge of the side of the box, despite little in the way of the appeal, and the referee pointed to the spot.
New signing Mangham marked his debut by converting the penalty, sending the ‘keeper the wrong way.
Yellows ‘keeper Tony Thompson was booked for his protests following the penalty, and he had to be at his best to deny Mangham from a tight angle shortly before the break.
It looked like the shell-shocked Yellows would need half time to re-group, but they managed to level things up before the whistle.
Josh Seary’s cross from the right was chested up by Josh Amis and Williams volleyed home from eight yards.
The Yellows lost Hannigan at half time, replaced by Matty McDonald, and most of the second half was played in Belper’s half.
But the hosts were well organised and proved tough to break down.
Buckley-Ricketts twice got on the outside down the right and put dangerous balls in to the middle, and from the second, Harris’ poke goalwards was saved one-handed by Durrant.
That proved though to be the only real test for the ‘keeper and the Yellows attempts to freshen up their front line were thwarted by a red card for Jordan Buckley.
Buckley, who had followed Mikey Howard on to the pitch as a sub, had barely had a touch when he was sent off four minutes after coming on.
He had trodden on the ball and got involved in a scuffle on the flow with Belper defender Ben Middleton, who alleged Buckley had thrown an elbow, and after every man on the pitch had become involved in the aggro, the referee sent both players off.
A row in the tunnel followed and it took a few minutes for the game to settle back down.
And it looked like Bohan Dixon had won the game for the Yellows when he pierced through the middle with a driving run and clipped the ball over the onrushing Durrant.
Howard poked the ball in to the back of the net, but the linesman’s flag went up and the Yellows were denied a winner.
They had to settle for a point ahead of Tuesday night’s home fixture against Atherton Collieries.
Belper Town: Durrant, Woodcock, Rhodes (Lobley (Morris)), Wilson, Middleton, Jordan, Robson, Middleton, Mangham (Gibson), Litchfield, Dixon. Unused subs: Hewlett, Brown.
Warrington Town: Thompson, Seary, White, Hannigan (McDonald), Gumbs, Harris, Buckley-Ricketts, Williams, Amis (Buckley), Dixon, Duffy (Howard). Unused subs: Mols, Putnam.
Sean Williams was the Yellows man of the match as voted for by the match sponsors. pic.twitter.com/jDiOJKmGwh
— Warrington Town FC (@theyellows) August 20, 2022
