Late goal denies Bay victory

COLWYN BAY were denied victory with almost the last kick of the game as they twice lost the lead in a 2-2 draw at Warrington Town.
Goals from Ian Sheridan and Karl Noon put them in front, but sloppy tackles gave away a penalty early in the second half and a free kick right at the death, from which Warrington scored their two goals.
As a pointer to next Saturday's opening league game it was a little hard to judge because the Bay made seven changes in the second half to give everybody a run out. As a result their play became a bit ragged, and in the end they paid for missing two or three really good chances they had created in the first half once they had settled down and started to play quite well.
Warrington left the grass on the pitch very long and that didn't help Bay's passing game and made it difficult to zip the ball around as they would normally like to do.
They went in front after 32 minutes, however, when Ian Sheridan cut in from the right to score with an angled shot high into the net,
Before that Warrington keeper Paul Pritchard saved with his legs at point blank range when Sheridan should have scored from a right wing cross, and Karl Noon had the best chance of the half when he was put through by Luke Denson, only to pull his shot wide with a poor finish.
Jon Newby then failed to connect with a Sheridan cross that should also have been put away, while Danny Grannon put a header over the bar from a Mick McGraa free kick.
Chris Sanna was hardly troubled at the other end, although he did make a good save low to his left from Warrington's best player, Chris Cahgan.
Warrington were then gifted an equaliser four minutes into the second half when a clumsy trip by David Thompson on Tony Evans allowed Gavin Salmon to score from the penalty spot.
Salmon was starting to look a threat up front as gaps appeared in midfield allowing Warrington room to run at the Bay defence and the strongly-built striker was unlucky when his chip over Sanna hit the crossbar after he had muscled his way past Tim Brandreth.
Warrington also had a goal ruled out for offside against Salmon as he broke free to beat the advancing Sanna and Grannon's attempted clearance off the line rebounded into the net off Evans.
Colwyn Bay made the most of that escape by regaining the lead on 58 minutes when Noon took a return pass from Sheridan and coolly slid the ball past Pritchard.
Although Colwyn Bay created little from an attacking point of view after that, they looked like winning the game until Mark Cadwallader's foul just outside the area in the 90th minute gave Louis Corrigan the chance to equalise with a sweetly-struck free kick past Sanna's despairing dive.
"In the end we've been punished for switching off and making sloppy tackles to give away the penalty and the free kick of their two goals," admitted Dave Challinor afterwards,
"I've just been saying to the players how important it is to keep concentration at all times. If you switch off you are going to get punished and it is a lesson we have to learn."
Chally also agreed the long grass had not suited the pre-match tactics.
"We wanted to play with a defensive midfielder (Thompson) and look to attack on the break with swift, sharp passing, but we couldn't do that effectively enough because the grass was so long and players were getting the ball stuck under their feet," he said.
Trialists Phil Doran (ex-Caernarfon and Rhyl) and Sam Bailey showed up quite well in the first half before being replaced, but Challinor knows he is still short of a couple of key players.
He has had a frustrating time with a number of players he has tried to bring to the club deciding to go elsewhere, but he says he is close to getting another forward on loan before Saturday's game at North Ferriby United and is still looking for a holding midfield player.
"We know the new season is going to be a huge challenge for all of us, but everyone is up for that and looking forward to it," he added.