AFTER a difficult fortnight, Mark Beesley has hailed Warrington Town goalkeeper Tony Thompson’s handling of the unsavoury incident which saw him banned for a game.
During last month’s FA Trophy tie with Guiseley, Thompson showed his fury at a travelling supporter who had urinated in the drinks bottle placed in the goal he was defending.
His reaction saw him sent from the field and the incident was massively publicised, with pressure put on the FA to rescind his three-match ban.
The suspension was reduced to one match and he returned to the Town side for Saturday’s 1-1 draw with Stalybridge Celtic.
“He’s been excellent through the past couple of weeks,” Beesley said.
“It’s well documented what happened to him and it’s been very tough for him.
“The lads have got around him and given him great support and he showed on Saturday what a quality goalkeeper he is.
“We know how good he is – he’s very good – but we want more from him and he’s always pushing himself to get better.”
Yellows – now sitting two points outside the Northern Premier League Premier Division play-off spots in sixth – are on the road for the first time in more than a month this weekend as they travel to Morpeth Town.
The Highwaymen have become familiar opposition – this will be the sixth meeting between the sides this calendar year.
Saturday’s game at Craik Park will be their fourth meeting of this season – Town won 2-0 at Cantilever Park on the opening day of the season and drew 2-2 in Northumberland in the FA Cup before winning the replay 2-1 three days later.
They will have full-back Josh Seary available again after suspension but skipper Josh Amis will serve the last of a three-game ban.
Striker Jordan Buckley returned to action with a brief cameo off the bench against Stalybridge after three months out with an ankle injury, but Beesley once again stressed caution around his fitness.
“We were short of players, so we thought we’d have him on for 10-15 minutes to occupy defenders but you could see he’s only just come back,” he said.
“He’s only trained twice fully since May – that’s a long time with very little training.
“Just to have him around is great – we’ve got to be gentle with him and hold him back a little bit because he’s rusty.”
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