Skelmersdale Utd 0

Warrington Town 1

WARRINGTON Town bagged their first points of the season on Tuesday night with a performance that left joint manager Glenn Walker drooling.

Town gave one of the frontrunners for the North West Counties Soccer League Division title a footballing lesson. Their work rate was first class and Skelmersdale were lucky to lose by only a single goal.

Graham Mitchell and Steve Latham both hit the woodwork for Town while Andy Moore missed a couple of good opportunities to get his name on the score sheet.

Skelmersdale on the other hand rarely posed a threat. Their highly rated attacking players were kept under wraps by Town's flawless defending and Walker could not have been happier with his team's display.

Town's goal came midway through the first half. Dave Tickle was brought down inside the box and Graham Mitchell sent the goalkeeper the wrong way from the spot to notch his eighth goal in five outings.

Town: Terry O'Connor, Andy Moore, Terry Nestor, Lee Webster, Paul Davis, Dave Tickle, Steve Latham, Graham Mitchell, Phil Mitchell, Chris Birmingham. Subs used: Paul Hives, Tommy Baker, Kevin Tyrrell.

Mossley 6

Warrington Town 4

GLENN Walker vowed to instil a greater attacking threat into Warrington Town's ranks when he stepped into the managerial hotseat in June and on the evidence of Saturday's game at mighty Mossley he has kept to his word.

Town were awesome offensively. They looked like scoring every time they were in their opponents' half in what was an astonishing season opener.

Goals were being banged in left, right and centre and joint Town manager Walker took a lot of positives out of the game.

He said: "Mossley are a class act. They are the clear favourites to win the league but we had plenty of joy against them.

"Saturday was the first time in three years that they have conceded four goals and we should have scored more."

Walker will be particularly impressed with the contributions of former St. Helens Town quartet Chris Birmingham, Terry Nestor, Phil Mitchell and his brother Graham.

Birmingham set up all four of Town's goals, Nestor bagged a brace on his league debut and the Mitchell brothers were also on target.

But their efforts were not rewarded due to a host of individual errors.

Town's defending was particularly sloppy in the first 20 minutes and the last 10. They conceded four goals during these spells and must tighten up at the back if they are to fulfil the huge potential they showed in patches.

The other sour note of the game for Town was an injury to new signing Paul Heavey. The striker pulled his groin after only 10 minutes of play and is expected to be sidelined for a couple of weeks.

Team: Terry O'Hanlon, Paul Hives, Mark Ashton, Terry Nestor, Lee Webster, Andy Tague, Tommy Baker, Steve Latham, Paul Heavey, Phil Mitchell, Chris Birmingham. Subs used: Graham Mitchell, Dave Tickle, Paul Davis.

Dave Lawrenson