Danny Greenfield’s goal from distance before heroics from Mateusz Hewelt in added time helped Radcliffe pick up an important victory at Warrington Town, boosting the Boro’s survival hopes in the process.

Two changes were made to the team that conceded in the dying embers against Darlington on Tuesday night, Olly Thornley started his first game for Radcliffe since our visit to Needham Market in January, and Anthony Dudley entered the eleven after his appearance off the bench in midweek.

The first ten minutes was largely dominated by Warrington with Joe Rodwell-Grant nodding a tame effort towards goal and Aaron James’ free header being put over, however the following ten gave Radcliffe chance to apply pressure onto the home side’s defence, a trivela shot from Jordan Hulme was blocked before a number of Tom Walker crosses couldn’t be turned home inside the box.

Dudley forced Dan Atherton into a save on the 32-minute mark after linking up with Hulme inside the box, setting the forward up for a volley which stung the gloves of the goalkeeper who tipped wide. Danny Greenfield’s tame flick moments later concluded Radcliffe’s clear-cut chances before the break, ending all square at the halfway stage despite the Boro being in control for the majority.

Not long after Greenfield saw an effort from outside the box pushed to safety by Atherton, the former Liverpool academy shot-stopper couldn’t replicate his save in the same place with 59 minutes on the clock. Following an intricate Radcliffe move on the left-hand side, Hulme’s faint touch set Greenfield up in space and the midfielder wasted no time in trying his luck once again, this time firing into the bottom left corner of the net before celebrating with his teammates.

Now a goal down, Warrington began to create much-needed opportunities to restore parity with shots from Rodwell-Grant and Ollie Southern being unable to beat Hewelt in the Radcliffe sticks, and substitutions from both sides gave each team new energy to work with in their attempts to either extend the lead or level the game up.

A huge miss after 87 minutes allowed Radcliffe to breathe a huge sigh of relief, leaving Warrington wondering how the scoreline wasn’t 1-1. With two substitutes linking up, Matty McDonald passed across the box for Ben Hatton to pass into an open goal, but he instead blazed over the bar before putting his head in his hands.

Eight minutes were added on at the end of the 90 and Radcliffe looked comfortable in seeing the game out, that was until the 99th minute when the Yellows created a heart in mouth moment which was kept out by an unbelievable piece of goalkeeping.

Up from his own box, ‘keeper Atherton nodded against the base of the post after meeting a good cross, and McDonald thumped towards the target on the rebound which was met by Hewelt with a reflex save at his near post, when the Warrington man looked odds on to break the hearts of the Radcliffe faithful behind the net.

The Boro will aim for back-to-back victories when they travel to the Tameside Stadium to face off against Curzon Ashton on Tuesday night, join us for midweek action at the business end of the campaign!

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