Words: James Whitbread
The Iron take on Warrington Town at the Attis Arena after a massive 1-0 win over Curzon Ashton away from home, Will Evans’ volley was enough to claim all three points.
The victory leaves us with 19 points, six points above Kidderminster in second, with United still unbeaten and with only one goal conceded this season.
Our opponents come into this game after a tough start to the season. Warrington have lost four of their first seven matches, winning two and drawing once. On the road this season, Warrington have played twice and been defeated on both occasions, a 3-1 defeat to King's Lynn and a 2-1 loss to South Shields, they’ll be looking to eradicate their bad away form as they come to the Attis Arena hoping to kick-start some good form.
Yellows midfielder Matthew McDonald has had a strong start to the season, the number 10 has scored three goals already and looks to cause the Iron some problems. McDonald netted against second place Kidderminster Harriers when Town beat them at home, and he has proved he can hurt the teams towards the top of the table.
In the opposition dugout is manager Mark Beesley, the 43-year-old has been in the Yellows dugout for some time now and has impressed. Mark came in as an assistant manager for Paul Carden, October 2016 in the Northern Premier Division, with the experience of being a player coach at Burscough.
As assistant manager, Mark Beesley and Paul Carden finished tenth in their first season in 2016-17, the next season Town finished third missing out in the play-offs, in 2018-19 Warrington again finished third in the table and lost in the play-offs final to King's Lynn, who were captained by Iron skipper Michael Clunan.
After Covid cancelled the next two seasons of the Northern Premier Division, in 2020-21 Warrington dropped down a few positions to fifth, still not claiming promotion through the playoffs.
In October 2021, Paul Carden left Warrington and Beesley became the first team manager stepping up his role, he saw the Yellows get promoted through the play-offs that season after finishing second. Last season was a successful season back in the National League North they finished 12th comfortably staying up. Mark Beesley’s time at the club has been very successful and he will be looking to fix their poor form swiftly and continue to move them forward.
Andy Butler’s side will be hoping to keep their strong form intact as the Iron host a Warrington side, looking to snatch three points against the league table leaders.
