WITH his Warrington Town side 1-0 down and in danger of sinking to a derby defeat, Mark Beesley had a decision to make.

He had already got his first one of the day wrong after a change of formation proved ill-fated, with Warrington Rylands swarming all over his side.

Then, two calls he subsequently made allowed his side to turn the game around and head back across town with three important points as well as the bragging rights.

In a bid to get strikers Josh Amis and Jordan Buckley into the starting line-up, Town switched to a three-man defence with Matty McDonald – a central midfielder by trade – pressed into service on the left of a defensive trio.

Having conceded the opener early, Beesley watched as his side were carved open by an incisive Rylands outfit.

First, he reverted back to Town’s usual four-man defence to get them a foothold before the break but even then, many wondered if he would turn to his bench at half time.

He stuck with the same 11 players and after Buckley had plundered a quickfire double, it was a decision that was vindicated.

"We changed a few things as we weren’t at our best first half,” Beesley said.

"We’d changed the system a little bit but it didn’t really work – we looked like we’d had a tough game on Tuesday.

"We asked them to start believing a bit more as they were the better team in the first half. It was probably right we were 1-0 down.

"We got control back in the second half and from then on, we were worthy winners in the end.

“I think sometimes, you can make changes too soon and the lads want to go out and put it right straight away.

“It’s a tough game and we had people on the pitch who we needed on the pitch.

“It was important that we adjusted a few things – we moved Bohan (Dixon) a little bit higher and wrestled a bit of control back.”

Nobody will be more delighted than Beesley to see Buckley – his 19-goal top scorer from last season who has missed much of this campaign with an ankle issue – showing signs of his razor-sharp best again.

Having raced clear on a counter-attack to equalise, he found space to nod home the winner from Sean Williams’ inswinging corner to spark wild scenes of celebration among the Town fans behind the goal.

“We all know how good Jordan Buckley is but the poor lad has had a wretched run with injuries,” Beesley said.

“Going back to almost the end of February, he’s played two 90 minutes last season and twice this season.

“All of a sudden, we’re expecting him to be the answer we’re looking for.

“We have to be patient with him and dip him in and out a little bit so we’ve got a fit Jordan Buckley for the rest of the season.

“We felt we could score again – we knew Jordan was tiring but he was such a threat. It gives the opposition a lift if they see him go off.

“We maybe left it a little bit longer than we wanted but taking him off was right in the end.

“These are a good team, as are Hyde so to get four points from these two games is a really good return for us.

“The conditions were tough and you’ve got to give credit to both sets of players for putting on a show for those who turned up.

“They put us under pressure without creating too much and we managed to deal with that.”