Peterborough Sports left themselves too much to do in home defeat to Warrington Town

Sports were in the ascendency for most of the opening stages and were pushing hard for an equaliser at the end but were taught a lesson in being clinical by their visitors.

Sports caused their own problems for the first, gifting the ball away for the first and then were caught cold at the start of the second half to trail 2-0.

Michael Gash gave his side hope with a powerful effort midway through the second half but Sports could not make their late pressure pay before being caught on the break with a minute of normal time to play.

Victory for Southport over Bishop’s Stortford saw Sports drop a place to 18th and they remain just five points above the drop zone with six games to play. Their winless run has been extended to five league matches.

Sports made one change from the side that drew 2-2 at PIMS Park with Blyth Spartans on Saturday, bringing striker Ben Fowkes in place of midfielder Hugh Alban-Jones. Ryan Fryatt took his place in the line-up despite Saturday’s red card with his ban not kicking in for seven days.

They made the brighter of the starts on a rainy night and after ten minutes, Dan Jarvis saw a powerful effort from the edge of the six-yard box headed over the bar by a covering defender.

Sports continued to make most of the running but were caught out against the run of play after 17 minutes when former Posh man Isaac Buckley-Ricketts took advantage of a moment of hesitation between Dan Lawlor and Rory McAuley. The former played an under-hit pass back to his centre-half allowing Buckley-Ricketts to bear down on goal and unselfishly roll across to Callum Woods, on the edge of the box, and he smashed the ball home.

Sports were dealt another blow just after the half hour mark as they continued to push forward as Jones was forced off with an ankle problem. He had landed awkwardly in the opening minutes of the match and had attempted to battle on before admitting defeat and being replaced by joint boss Michael Gash.

As the half drew to an end, the pattern of the game flipped on its head as the visitors took control. First Peter Crook had to be at full-stretch to push away a Buckley-Ricketts effort across goal. Buckley-Ricketts and Woods came close again before Buckley-Ricketts saw a shot from the edge of the box deflected up and onto the crossbar as Sports were scrambling to clear a corner.

The half time whistle came as a welcome relief for Sports as just before the break, Crook played a loose pass out from the back once allowing Buckley-Ricketts a chance to run at the defence. After jinking past a couple of man he put the ball wide when in one-on-one, it was the best chance of all and he should have scored.

As it turned out, Sports were only able to hold out for six minutes for the second half before Dubem Eze fired in an impressive from a tight angle on the left of the box into the bottom corner for a debut goal.

Just a minute later, a strong hand from Crook prevented an almost exact replica of that finish.

The game turned again though and as Sports started to get back on top, they were handed a lifeline, with 27 minutes to play, by substitute Gash when he slammed into the roof of the net after Kaine Felix had sent a deep cross into the box.

Sports dominated the game in search of an equaliser but failed to turn possession into chances before being caught out on the break. Sean Williams won the ball back in the final third, squared it to Matty McDonald and he placed the ball into the bottom corner past Crook.

Sports: Peter Crook, Elicha Ahui, Ryan Fryatt, Ashton Fox, Rory McAuley (sub Matt Tootle, 92 mins), Dan Lawlor (sub Cuba Meyer, 86 mins), Josh McCammon, Dan Jarvis, Kaine Felix, Mark Jones (sub Michael Gash, 33 mins), Ben Fowkes

Not used: Connor Johnson, Hugh Alban-Jones.