Warrington Town...2

Bacup Borough...3

WARRINGTON Town's only remaining hope of silverware is to win the North West Counties League second division title.

For that to happen second-placed Town will have to rely on teams around them slipping up while continuing to pick up maximum points.

Town, holders of the Second Division Trophy, crashed out of this year's competition to strugglers Bacup Borough on Saturday.

Alan Blair's men were sent reeling by a Bacup match-winning goal two minutes into injury time after Town had worked hard to claw back into the game.

The knockout punch was served up by a striker who was lucky to be still on the field. Steven Gavin had earlier verbally abused referee D. Miller but no action was taken against him.

Bacup took an eighth minute lead with a Paul Waine shot.

Town were having problems providing the front men with accurate service and only troubled Bacup's goal once with a Mike Heverin strike from 25 metres.

Neil Holden got behind his marker to fire in a low cross to the near post. Andy Moore flew in to net in the 57th minute.

But Town then fell to the oldest trick in the book, with the opposition striking while Town were still celebrating.

But there was a suspicion of off side about Gavin's first goal of the afternoon.

Town were creating very little and Blair threw on substitute striker Stuart Honor with 10 minutes remaining and the move fetched an instant result.

Centre half Ian Callaghan floated in a free kick towards Honor, who commanded the attention of two defenders and the outcoming goalkeeper. They all missed the ball which rolled into the empty net for Callaghan's first goal of the season.

Bacup bagged their winner from a disputed free kick. Nicky Taylor made a nuisance in the danger zone and the ball fell to Gavin who blasted home from close range.

Town: Neil McCormack, Andy Moore, Steve Cartledge, Ian Callaghan, Dave Pick, Andy Harris, Paul Hives, Dave Tickle, Mike Heverin, Neil Holden, Andy Tague. Subs used: Stuart Honor, Gareth Chadwick. Not used: Alan Blair.