Town hauled in at Widnes after fine start

ANDREW CROMPTON STOCKPORT Town manager Dave Wild remains unbeaten since taking over at the start of the year following a 2-2 draw away at a strong Widnes side.

But Wild felt his side, who raced into a two-goal lead, were unlucky not to get all three points from the clash.

“Before the game if I had been offered a point I would have leaped at the offer, but having seen the standard of football we played in the first half, and to have obtained a 2-0 lead at a place like Widnes to end up 2-2 is a really tough one to swallow and has taken me longer than usual to shake off!

“Having seen the game back on Sunday it is pretty clear that we scored at 0-0 and the officials didn’t give the goal, and I just feel that a 3-0 lead at half time would have completely killed Widnes off.”

The match got off to a flying start with Aaron Dwyer finding the net only to see his effort disallowed, the referee insisting his shot had not crossed the goalline.

Just 14 minutes in and Dwyer struck to give the away side the lead from inside the penalty area. The winger picked up the ball inside the Widnes half before beating two Widnes players and slotting past Wheeler in goal.

Cameron Darkwah doubled their advantage and The Lions almost grabbed a third before the break when Dwyer saw his six-yard shot saved and spilled by Wheeler before Darkwah latched onto the rebound twice, only to be denied by the Widnes keeper before the ball was cleared.

The second half got off to a bad start for the away side as Widnes grabbed a goal back from a corner. With Town players and fans still convinced that it should have been a goal kick, the ball swung in as Steven Akrigg pounced and prodded home.

With 63 minutes on the clock Widnes were given the opportunity to bring the scores level as Tyler Devlin conceded a penalty and subsequently booked for his foul. Kevin Towey stepped up from 12-yards out and drilled past Whiting to get his side back on level terms.

“The positivity in the camp is really starting to shine through now and being down to 10 men for the third game on the run – whilst not being acceptable on our part – once again showed the unity and togetherness within our dressing room by grafting together and gaining a very good point.

“I thought that our first half showing was without question the best football that we have played since I took over and in parts the patterns of play that we put together were so pleasing to see.

“It just makes me and the coaching staff confident going forward that our style of play and our values are being understood by the playing squad.

“All week we set a target in our camp to end the weekend unbeaten in five, we hit the target so that can only be a positive statement for the club against a side that for me will be promoted come May. However we can’t help but feel that a win was well within our grasp.”

Town are next in action at the weekend when they return to Stockport Sports Village in a home league clash against struggling Ashton Town, kick-off 3pm.

Wild added: “Like I always say to my players, a draw is only a good point if you back it up with a win, so we must continue to work hard as group this week, train and prepare well for the visit of Ashton Town [on Saturday] and as always our job on the coaching staff is to have everyone prepared and understanding their roles on the day.”