Mark Beesley celebrates one year in charge of Warrington Town

It was on this day in 2021 that Beesley was officially appointed to replace Paul Carden – the man under whom he had served as assistant manager for five years – after he left to take over at AFC Telford United.

In the 52 games he has taken charge of since then, he led Town to the brink of promotion to the National League North last season and has them sat in and around the play-off spots this time around.

Mark Beesley (Image: Sean Walsh)

Here, sports reporter Matt Turner picks out his top five wins from Beesley’s first year in charge…

5. TOWN 5 LANCASTER CITY 1

Northern Premier League – Saturday, December 4, 2021

This was Beesley’s first league game in charge and, put simply, it was bonkers.

The scoreline looks a convincing one but in truth, this was a game that quite conceivably finished 5-5 given the end-to-end nature of it.

As it happened, Yellows’ clinical edge was fully tuned in and a perfect hat-trick from Jordan Buckley – featuring a header and finishes with both feet – set them on course for victory.

Jack Mackreth and Matty Grivosti were also on target to get the new era off to a flying start.

4. TOWN 3 SOUTH SHIELDS 1

FA Trophy – Saturday, October 29, 2022

The most recent game in this countdown happened at the end of last month and helped Town send a real message.

While they may have had half an eye on a big FA Cup tie the following week, South Shields still arrived as favourites to progress in this FA Trophy tie but left well-beaten.

Connor Woods continued his red-hot form on loan from Southport to net twice, with Tom Hannigan having opened the scoring.

Connor Woods celebrates scoring against South Shields (Image: Cody Froggatt)

3. TOWN 4 BAMBER BRIDGE 1

Northern Premier League – Saturday, January 1, 2022

In front of a bumper crowd of nearly 900 at Cantilever Park, Yellows got the new year off to the perfect start against a Bamber Bridge side that were promotion rivals at the time.

Leading at half-time through a rare Mitch Duggan goal, a nine-minute spell after the break saw them score three times to emphatically ram home their advantage.

Evan Gumbs, Josh Amis and Sean Williams hit the target to earn Beesley’s men a statement victory.

Evan Gumbs is congratulated by Jay Harris after scoring against Bamber Bridge (Image: Jonathan Moore)

2. FC UNITED 0 TOWN 1

Northern Premier League – Tuesday, February 15, 2022

This game was set up to be pivotal in the race for a play-off spot – a run of one win in six meant Town’s grip on their place in the top five was slipping and their hosts were breathing down their necks.

What followed was a tight and tense game that looked destined to finish goalless, until the visitors sprang a counter-attack.

From it, Josh Amis expertly guided home a 93rd-minute winner to spark wild scenes of celebration and give his side room to breathe.

The wild celebrations that followed Josh Amis' injury-time winner at FC United (Image: Karl Vallantine)

1. SOUTH SHIELDS 1 TOWN 1 (5-6 on penalties)

Northern Premier League play-offs – Tuesday, April 26, 2022

Against all odds, they did it again.

Almost three years to the day since stunning South Shields in the play-offs back in 2019, Town once again proved to be the Mariners’ Kryptonite on a tense evening on Tyneside.

The sides could not be separated after 120 minutes, with Jordan Buckley cancelling out Darius Osei’s opener, and goalkeeper Dan Atherton proved to be the hero.

He saved two penalties in the shoot-out to send Town to the brink of promotion again.

Dan Atherton saved two penalties in the shoot-out win at South Shields