Warrington Town 0 South Shields 3, National League North

For the second week in a row, Yellows found themselves with a mountain to climb at the break but having rescued a point at Darlington from two goals down last week, they could not recover from three behind against South Shields.

All three of the visitors’ goals came in the opening half-hour at Cantilever Park, with Mackenzie Heaney’s cross going straight in for the opener before Dillon Morse headed home his corner two minutes later to put the Mariners in command.

Paul Blackett them strode through the make it 3-0 before the break, and Town could not find anything by way of a response.

Mikey O'Neill in action during the defeat to South Shields (Image: Sean Walsh)

Town 'shoot themselves in the foot' again

Town have now conceded the opening goal in five of their six matches since Carden’s return to Cantilever Park and in total, they have done so in 10 of their 16 matches in all competitions this season.

On this occasion, they had started the game brightly until being hit with two goals in the space of three minutes to put them firmly on the back foot.

And once again, Carden bemoaned his side’s tendency to give up advantages and more specifically, the manner in which they tend to do so.

“We were pleased with our start in the first 10 minutes, but we have this knack of being able to shoot ourselves in the foot,” he said.

“The first goal is really poor – it’s a mistake that leads to a corner and then how it ends up in the back of our net I don’t know. There was a bit of a shout for offside – I don’t know whether it was – but it’s gone in anyway.

“What you don’t do then is concede again, which we do from another corner.

“To be fair, the second is a great delivery – they’ve got big, powerful lads that can outjump you and when the delivery is right, that can happen.

“The third goal, though, is just a straight pass from a centre-half. Straight passes and square passes are the ones that get cut out most, but it’s gone right through the heart of us and the lad has finished well.

“We can’t keep giving leads to the opposition the way we do – the first and third goals are really poor. We keep handing teams goals.

“It’s been a theme that we’re going a goal behind all the time and we’re trying to fight back.

“At the minute, we’re having to score to get something out of the game. You start with a point and should keep that at worst.”

Verdict - Old habits die hard for Yellows

By Matt Turner

JUST when you thought momentum was starting to build, Warrington Town are sent hurtling back towards square one.

And perhaps more worryingly, this defeat saw a continuation of trends that have underpinned their campaign to date both before and after Paul Carden’s return.

Once again, they were knocked off stride too easily having started the game relatively brightly – a mistake from Andy White gave South Shields their first attacking position and from the corner it yielded, Mackenzie Heaney’s second attempt at delivering ended up in the far corner.

While they had a strong case to say a seemingly offside Paul Blackett interfered with Dan Atherton’s handling of the cross despite him not touching the ball, the goal stood and before they could recover, Dillon Morse had planted a header from another Heaney corner into their goal.

From then on, the writing was on the wall and Town had presented the game on a plate to a team who had not won – or even scored – away from home since August.

And it could have been worse too even after the home defence had been opened up by a single long pass to send Blackett striding through for the third goal. The National League North’s leading goalscorer from last season was never going to miss and within half an hour, the game was out of Town’s reach.

It was the fifth time in six games under Carden that they had conceded first and a third time in the past four games that they have given up a deficit of two goals or more before half time.

They have done admirably to win back five points from losing positions since Carden’s return, but they simply cannot continue handing opposition teams that kind of advantage and expecting to get away with it.

It is also another home defeat – an 11th in 22 matches at Cantilever Park on home soil this calendar year – in front of another handy attendance of more than 900.

The crowds keep coming but if they continue to do so without reward, the risk of them staying away grows and a disillusioned fanbase is one thing Town can ill-afford.

Five of those 11 have come this season, all of which have been to teams that are – or in Shields’ case, were – below them in the table, including the FA Cup loss to Radcliffe.

If the cushion that currently shields them from relegation trouble is to remain, that simply cannot continue.

What also cannot happen is for the manner of this reverse to fester, with an intense schedule of games coming up.

Saturday was the first of nine matches Town are slated to play during this calendar month in three different competitions and if a rot sets in, it can be hugely damaging.

Warrington Town: Atherton, White (Southern), Harris (Dixon), Woods, O'Neill (Amaral), Amis (Rodwell-Grant), McDonald (Halford), Bennett, Douglas, Miles, Clarke