Warrington Town A-A Stafford Rangers

Match #889 | 17/12/2016 | Cantilever Park | (Northern Premier League)
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Thick fog brought a premature end to this one, as Warrington Town got out of jail.

It had been a dismal performance by the home team, and Stafford had led 2-0 when the referee took the players off on 57 minutes.

My match report from Warrington Worldwide is below:

WARRINGTON Town’s final game before Christmas against Stafford Rangers was abandoned shortly in to the second half due to fog.

The game started under a slight mist and by half-time it had worsened, before the referee decided to stop play on 57 minutes.

He gave it a bit of time before deciding to abandon the game completely.

It will be a bitter pill to swallow for Stafford, who led 2-0 and had played impressively throughout.

They took the lead in just the fourth minute when Richard Batchelor nodded home from a corner.

Their lead was doubled shortly before the half hour mark in bizarre circumstances.

Town goalkeeper Tony McMillan was punished for taking longer than six seconds with ball in hand, shown a yellow card for time wasting and the visitors were given an indirect free-kick close to the penalty spot.

From the dead ball situation, Mitchell Tolley fired through a ruck of bodies and past McMillan, though there was some controversy over whether the ball had been touched before his strike.

In the end it mattered little. The second half had largely been a non-event until thick fog came down and forced the abandonment.

The 369-strong crowd were given vouchers on exit to entitle them to entry to the replayed game later on in the season.

Warrington Town are next in action on Boxing Day, when they travel to Ashton, before a home game against Spennymoor Town on Thursday week.