Bamber Bridge came away from Cantilever Park, home of Warrington Town with a 1-0 defeat despite playing against 10 men for 89 minutes. The Wire No.8 Sean Williams was shown a straight red card within the thee first 30 seconds of the match for a foul on Paul Dawson adjudged to be dangerous by the referee. Despite the extra man advantage, Brig, in truth never really threatened the home goal and as the game wore on it was the hosts who looked more likely scorers, and so it turned out.

A bitterly cold Saturday afternoon and an intriguing clash between “The Wire” in 3rd spot in the table and Bamber Bridge in 5th, was anticipated by both sets of fans. But literally straight from the kick off, the match looked to have swung in favour of the Lancashire Visitors with the dismissal of Williams. For a 15 minute spell after the red card Brig pushed the hosts back and enjoyed their best spell of the game.

Isaac Sinclair saw an effort cleared off the line as he picked up the ball just outside the penalty area on the left, skipped inside and struck a low shot towards the far post. The effort lacked power in truth and was cleared well before it reached the goal-line. A couple of corners came and went for Brig before Paul Dawson struck a volleyed effort from the right side of the box, which struck a defender and was cleared. Brig were pinning their hosts back and the opening goal looked inevitable.

However, Football isn’t an exact science and despite the early domination the home keeper remained untroubled. A Fin cross and an audacious Danny Forbes overhead kick which dropped comfortably for the keeper was about as close as Bamber Bridge came to pushing home their one man advantage. As the half wore on, Warrington Town grew in confidence and began carving out chances of their own. A shot from distance cleared the bar, and the stand roof before a 25 yard free kick was whipped over the Brig defensive wall and flashed just wide of the post.

At the other end Aaron Skinner dribbled in to the 6 box from the left having been sent away with a great ball from Isaac Sinclair, but once again the shot blocked before it reached the keeper. The referee brought the first half proceedings to a close with the home side certainly unperturbed at having a man less than their visitors.

The second half began with Brig pushing forward and a cross from the right found Fin Sinclair-Smith beyond the far post, his attempted volley falling well wide of the upright. Sheldon Green then played a fine ball across the box from the right but again the incoming shot was charged down, Joe Robbins firing the rebound just wide of the post.

But as in the first half, Brig were not creating anything of note and once again Warrington came back strong and in fact began to dominate possession. An overhead kick flew over the Brig bar as the hosts began to believe they could win the match. A Paul Dawson 25 yard low driven free kick that passed a foot wide of the post was all Brig had to offer in an attacking sense and the Brig fans began contemplating that a draw and a point would certainly not be a disaster despite the extra player advantage. Two Brig changes came in the 73rd minute as Sky Sinclair and Joe Robbins made way for Donovan Lescott and Conor Stanley. But at this stage of the game it was The Cheshire side looking far more likely to break the deadlock and it almost arrived on 79 minutes. A superb pass in to the box sent the striker through one on one with Luke Hutchinson in the Brig goal, He sidestepped the keeper but fortunately the shot struck the outside of the post and ran out for a goal kick.

Another good chance came the way of the home side just a minute later when a close range shot was flicked over Luke Hutchinson, narrowly clearing the bar. The good fortune was shot-lived however. Brig had just made a 3rd substitution with Rowan Roache replacing Chris Churchman, when on 82 minutes, Brig gave up possession on the half way line, Bohan Dixon showed power and pace as he burst away towards goal before smashing the ball home as he entered the penalty area. The goal had been coming to be fair and was no more than the home side deserved.

Moments later and it was almost two. As a header from a free-kick was superbly saved at full stretch by Hutchinson. Any thoughts of a Brig counter offensive were dismissed by a determined Warrington side, who far from protecting their lead looked likely to add to it. The final action of the match saw Fin Sinclair-Smith having to chase back and poke the ball out for another corner. The referee signalled 5 added minutes and in that time Luke Hutchinson again was called into action tipping over the bar.

As the referee blew the full time whistle the home players celebrated the victory with Brig left to reflect on a chance lost. The Old adage that it’s harder to play against 10 men certainly rings true for Bamber Bridge this evening. However, It's just one game and Cantilever Park has never been happy hunting ground for Brig. But, putting this result aside Bamber Bridge still find themselves in 5th place in The Northern Premier League and all is still to play for. We now have three home games in a row to look forward to as Stafford Rangers come to Irongate next Saturday followed by a Tuesday evening game against Morpeth Town and and then the following Saturday Whitby Town are the visitors.

Full Time: Warrington Town – 1 Bamber Bridge – 0

Bamber Bridge: Hutchinson, Skinner, Green, Thomson, Sinclair (S), Forbes, Sinclair (I), Churchman, Dawson ©, Robbins, Sinclair-Smith

Substitutes: Stanley, Roache, Mariette, Lescott, Turner