Warrington Town gear up for National League North season

From now on, that will start to become clear as the men from WA4 start their bid to show their promising first National League North campaign was not just beginner’s luck.

After seven pre-season friendlies, the competitive action begins with a long trip to King’s Lynn Town – one of five clubs in the division who operate on a full-time basis – on Saturday.

It is a game that demonstrates just what Town are up against in a nutshell as they battle to build upon the impressive 12th-place finish they recorded last season.

Manager Mark Beesley hopes a deliberately taxing pre-season has geared them up to do just that.

“It’s gone okay,” the Yellows boss said.

“The big thing for us is that we’ve only really picked up one injury, which is Tom Hannigan.

“It’s trying to make sure that everyone is available – it’s well-documented that we’re going to have a small squad so we need everyone bedded in.

“We’ve had a couple of signings come in late so they’ve got a bit of a chance to bed in now before the season starts.

“There’s only one game in the first week, so there’s a couple of training sessions to work on that and some other stuff.

“The lads are relatively fit, but the league games are the ones in which you’re really tested. Some of our lads are very competitive and they’ll be looking forward to that.

“We’ve done a lot in training and games, and we deliberately picked quality opposition that will test us.

“We’ve avoided games where we could possibly win comfortably – we wanted a test in every game and that was the plan because every league game is going to be a test for us.”

As Beesley mentioned, centre-back Tom Hannigan is the only fresh injury concern ahead of the trip to Norfolk – he is rated as “touch and go” with a knee injury.

Tom Hannigan - seen here in action during last season's trip to opening-day opponents King's Lynn Town - is struggling with a knee problem (Image: Ian Burt)

A refreshed Yellows attack

Club captain Josh Amis was already confirmed to be missing for the opening weeks having had surgery on a shoulder problem over the summer, while a suspension picked up towards the end of last season will rule fellow forward Matty Grivosti out of the first three matches.

It is in attack where the biggest player turnover of the summer has taken place, with last season’s leading goalscorer Isaac Buckley-Ricketts having opted against extending his time at the club in favour of a move to Curzon Ashton.

However, options have been refreshed further this week with two more additions in the forward areas in the shape of Gerald Sithole and Mikey O’Neill.

Former Gillingham and Bolton Wanderers youngster Sithole, 21, joins having impressed in several pre-season games as a trialist including a goal-scoring display against League Two side Salford City and has previously spent time on loan in the National League with Altrincham and Chorley.

The same is true of attacking midfielder O’Neill, 20, who enjoyed a loan spell at Southport from Preston North End last season before joining Burnley, who he left in the summer.

Beesley insists patience will be required for both of his newest additions, who join striker Joe Rodwell-Grant and defenders Ollie Southern and Murphy Bennett as fresh faces in the squad while midfielder Bohan Dixon has returned to the club following a short spell at Macclesfield and winger Josh Miles has signed on loan from Blackpool for three months.

“Gez gives us pace and gives us that other option at number nine. He can play wide as well, so we’ve got options up there now,” he said.

“Matty Grivosti is suspended for the first three games, so it gives us options.

“We’ve got to be patient with Gez – he’s come out of the full-time environment, which always takes time for young lads to get used to in terms of training at night and changing the way they do things.

“He’s direct and hopefully he’ll score some goals for us.

“Mikey is someone we’ve been keeping an eye on for over 12 months.

“He’s an attacking midfield player, but he’s come in late so we need to give him some time to settle in and get used to how we play.

“He’s a good footballer who’s got goals in him.”

Forward Gerald Sithole has joined the Town squad after impressing on trial (Image: Sean Walsh)

Retirement blow for Warrington-born defender

There has been a blow for Yellows this week in that Warringtonian defender Dec Walker has been forced to retire through injury.

It was announced on Wednesday evening that a long-standing hip problem has forced the 32-year-old to step back from the game.

It brings to an end a career which saw Walker play a key role in promotion-winning squads at both Town and neighbours Warrington Rylands in recent years having earlier represented Ireland at youth level.

 “It’s hard to put into words but unfortunately I have to retire from football sooner than expected due to a hip injury," Walker said.

“I couldn’t have finished at a better club and been able to play a part in getting my local club promoted to its highest league.

“I have experienced a lot of highs in the game playing for Ireland, playing in Europe, winning at Wembley and not forgetting the best promotion of helping this club into the National League; to the lows of three knee major injuries and now for another injury to cut my career short.

“I’m not sure what’s next but I will be coming back to games to support the lads and hopefully see them push the club on again.

“I would like to thank Bees for bringing me to the club and the lads on what a great journey it has been.”

Dec Walker played 75 times for Town after joining the club in 2022 (Image: Sean Walsh)