WARRINGTON Town are now nine points adrift from safety after losing 2-0 at home to Scarborough Athletic.
Any hope that Saturday’s late equaliser against Chorley might inspire a much-needed victory and run of form vanished within a tepid 90 minutes where the Yellows offered little.
"I thought the first half was quite open," manager Paul Carden said post-match.
"They looked a threat on the counter and we had one or two moments where if we were a little more decisive with the pass, cross or finish, the game could be the other way.
"We had a couple of opportunities where we got down the sides but the cross or cut-back didn’t beat the first defender.
"The goal they score, it’s a deflection and the lad’s ended up running on to it with a toe-poke finish.
"I’d changed the formation to give us two up front and it didn’t really work, but we weren’t being overrun but were behind to a scrappy goal.
"We’ve come out, changed it up and the game started pretty open again.
"The two big moments were one being cleared off the line and then Josh Amis' chance – the connection on the finish wasn’t there.
"That’s probably the telling factor because two minutes later, they go and score from a corner which is poor."
A new system, with three centre backs and two wing-backs was deployed, but it didn’t have the desired effect as Scarborough found their way round the sides of the hosts.
There was fortune about their opening goal on 26 minutes – Harry Green’s shot was blocked by his own man and then the loose ball fell for Richie Bennett to poke home the loose ball past a wrong-footed Dan Atherton, but it had the feeling of groundhog day once the Yellows went a goal down.
Green almost had a goal of his own a minute later when he stretched to get on the end of a dangerous ball in by Luca Colville, who himself should have done better with a free header late in the first half.
A double change, including the introduction of skipper Josh Amis, and a tactical switch at half time was no surprise and the Yellows finally got a foothold in the game.
They came agonisingly close to an equaliser on the hour when Aaron James’ flicked header from Jay Harris cross was somehow cleared off the line by Colville chasing back.
Moments later, Amis side-footed a glorious chance straight at the ‘keeper after a nice turn and pull back in the box by Matty McDonald.
And tYellows were immediately punished for that miss, with Scarborough earning a corner at the other end from which Mackenzie Maltby headed home from Colville’s precise corner kick.
That killed the game as a contest and Scarborough virtually played a keep ball for the final quarter of the game on another chastening evening at the Cal.Delivery Stadium.
Warrington Town: Atherton, Southern, Clarke, Douglas, Makinson (White), Doro (Green), James, Harris (Dixon), McDonald (O’Neill), Rodwell-Grant, Williams (Amis)
