Ryan Qualter sees red as Warrington Town beat Scarborough Athletic 4-0

Skipper Will Thornton missed the game through suspension and Lewis Maloney rested his calf injury, with Ryan Qualter returning to the side, Bailey Gooda taking the captain’s armband, and Luca Colville making his 100th competitive appearance for the club, writes Steve Adamson.

The hosts had the strong wind at their backs in the first half, but the first chance fell to Boro, as Alex Purver laid off to Dom Tear, who fired wide of the right-hand post, but Town quickly gained the ascendency and a powerful Connor Woods strike was blocked at full stretch by Bailey Gooda, a Bohan Dixon shot flashed inches wide, then keeper Ryan Whitley did well to push a Dixon strike round the post.

The pacy Dixon surged into the box but was halted by a great tackle from Alex Brown, before Boro had a rare shot on target, as Colville set up Alex Wiles, whose strike was smothered by home keeper Dan Atherton.

The turning point came on the half hour, when Ryan Qualter, who had earlier been booked for lunging into burly striker Josh Amis, again fouled Amis after he had raced past him in the area. The ref brandished a second yellow, and Sean Williams blasted the spot-kick down the centre of goal to open the scoring.

Down to 10 men, Boro had to switch the team around, with Kieran Weledji slotting in alongside Gooda at centre-back, Brown switched from left to right-back, and Colville slotted in at left-back. Weledji’s sliding tackle foiled Dixon as he ran clear, and Brown twice blocked stinging shots from Connor Woods, then Gooda charged down a Mitch Duggan strike.

Wiles fed Colville, whose shot was deflected wide by Andre Wisdom, but Warrington doubled their lead with a terrific goal just before the interval, as Isaac Buckley-Ricketts on the left, burst past Brown, cut inside, rounded Purver, and placed his shot past Whitley, inside the far bottom of corner, then Woods forced a good diving save from Whitley right on the half-time whistle.

Boro, now with the wind and driving rain in their favour, enjoyed more possession in the second half, with Tear, Colville, Brown and Wiles passing the ball around, but they made little impression on the home defence and it was Warrington who created the chances, Whitley diving to stop a Woods shot and Buckley-Ricketts scuffing an effort straight at the Boro keeper.

Whitley made a brilliant reflex save to keep out a Wisdom shot, before they went 3-0 up when Woods crossed from the right, for Amis to prod home from close range.

Boro’s best move of the game saw Colville skip past three defenders, but his 25-yard shot was pushed away by keeper Atherton, before a fourth goal put the game to bed, when Buckley-Ricketts passed forward to Woods, who slammed his left-foot shot past Whitley.

Weledji blocked an Andy White shot, then Warrington were awarded a second penalty on 82 minutes, when Whitley clipped the ankles of Buckley-Ricketts, but Whitley flung himself to his right to tip Declan Walker’s spot-kick onto the post.

Curtis Durose did well to block a close range shot from Buckley-Ricketts, and Dixon blazed over, before Boro should have been awarded a late spot-kick, when Tear was felled in the area after Harry Green and Frank Mulhern had combined to send him through on goal.WARRINGTON - Atherton, Walker, White, Hannigan, Woods, Williams (Gill 77), Dixon, Duggan (Harris 70), Amis (Grivosti 70), Buckley-Ricketts, WisdomBORO - Whitley, Weledji, Brown, Tear, Gooda, Qualter, Purver (Durose 61), Wiles, Rutledge (Green 65), Barnes (Mulhern 56), Colville

REFEREE - Robert Claussen

GOALS - WARRINGTON - Sean Williams 31(pen), Isaac Buckley-Ricketts 44, Josh Amis 64, Connor Woods 68

CORNERS - WARRINGTON 5 BORO 6

GOAL ATTEMPTS - WARRINGTON 18 (12 on target) BORO 5 (3 on target)

DISCIPLINE - BORO - Ryan Qualter Red card (2 yellows), Luca Colville, Yellow card

BORO MAN OF MATCH - Luca Colville

ATTENDANCE - 826 (115 away)