Warrington were looking to bounce back from defeat to Bridgefield last week with a home game against Liverpool. Last season saw Warrington beat Liverpool for the first time since the 1980’s. They were hoping to repeat the feat but knew Liverpool would be fired up for revenge. Liverpool brought a strong team and Warrington were slighlty under strength but definitely felt they had the quality to make it a close match.
It turned out to be one of the closest and exciting games of the season. The first quarter saw Liverpool take the lead after an exclusion foul by Sam Cooper. James Barker continued where he left off and scored another excellent goal. Liverpool scored again and Warrington failed to convert two ‘man up’ situations, but did defend a man down well too. It finished 1 - 2 to Liverpool.
The second quarter saw Warrington take a grip of the game and goals from James Barker, Tom Hadley and David Price saw them take the quarter 3 - 1 and move to 4 - 3 ahead in the match. However Warrington again missed two from three ‘man up’ opportunities. This quarter also saw one of the senior members of the Liverpool team wrapped up for jumping back into the pool after an exclusion. A rookie error but showed the tension building in this match as he clearly forgot himself.
The third quarter was again another good one for Warrington attacking the shallow end. Addison Brown was taking a mauling in the pit area and onlookers were surpised not to see more exclusion fouls against the Liverpool team. Another goal from Tom Hadley saw Warrington move to 5 - 3 ahead. James Barker showed his lack of sublty in a blantant pull back and was exlcuded and Warrington conceded from the ‘man down’ situation. Warrington missed another ‘man up’ situation and you can see a theme starting here. However they converted an extra man situation at the end of the quarter through Andy Burke. Warrington were now ahead 6 - 4 going into the last quarter.
Warrington knew they had the victory in sight and perhaps it was this that was there undoing. It was clear from the ‘hair drier’ treatment the Liverpool team were getting during their team talk they would be up for it in the last quarter. The Liverpool experience really showed here as one player sold a dummy to the referees to get David Price excluded and Liverpool scored the extra man goal. Liverpool scored another goal after an exclusion from James Barker. The score was now level at 6 - 6 and Warrington were on the back foot. After a passage of play were Liverpool had 3 successive attacks without Warrington being able to clear the ball Liverpool took the lead with just over 2 minutes left to play. The experienced Liverpool team then just sat back and stifled the game to see the game out for the win.
Warrington were gutted to lose but played extremely well and it shows the progression of the senior team to take such a strong Liverpool team so close. Tim Mainwaring, Sam Cooper and Tom Costello all had excellent games against much bigger and physically stronger opposition. It was good to see David Price and Andy Burke get onto the score sheet. James Barker has clearly found his shooting range and if that form continues he could challenge the top scorers. Tom Hadley showed a return to scoring ways with two good goals and Addison lead the line well and although he did not score he took a beating for the team in the pit. Warrington missed the extra experience that would of come from the one or two senior players missing and must do better when converting ‘man up’ opportunities. Warrington converted only 3 from 7 chances compared to the 4 from 5 converted by Liverpool. Next game is Southport away and hopefully a return to winning ways for Warrington.
Team: P Burke, A Burke (1), T Costello, T Hadley (2), J Barker (2), T Mainwaring, S Cooper, D Price (1), N Musgrove, A Brown