North West Counties League Division One: RAMSBOTTOM UNITED...1 WARRINGTON TOWN...1: PLAYING against 10 men can seriously damage your chances of winning, as Rammy boss Vince Overson can testify.

Warrington Town's Terry Nestor lasted just five minutes at the Riverside, before a two-footed lunge at Luke Hardman gave him the opportunity to inspect the washing facilities in the away dressing room sooner than expected.

His actions giving referee Simpson no option but to show him the red card and reduce Town to 10 men.

You could almost hear the Rammy fans thinkling, 'Here we go!' How wrong they were.

Throughout the game it was Warrington who showed the greater appetite for the fray and, like most teams a man short, played like their lives depended on it.

With the Rammy back four looking comfortable early on, Town were reduced to pumping high balls over the top for speedy forwards Mike Heverin and Phil Mitchell (no doubt enjoying his enforced sabbatical from Walford with a spot of home leave from prison and the odd game of footy) to chase.

But as the half wore on, Rammy keeper Paul Horridge found himself rushing out to smother these through balls left by his back four, which had began to move up quicker and quicker.

On 11 minutes he caught, spilled and caught again a teasing cross, before once more rushing off his line to dive at the feet of the advancing Mitchell, who became more and more of a threat as the game wore on.

Jordan Rispin clashed with Heverin on 16 minutes, with the latter hitting the ground as though he'd been shot by a sniper, however, Mr Simpson politely enquired after his health before waving play on.

On 20 minutes Matt Swailes appealed for a penalty after he fell in a clash with Town keeper Terry O'Hanlon, who had rushed out to deny him the ball, but once more the referee waved play on.

A minute later the busy Lee Buggie saw his overhead kick go inches too high after latching onto a Ged Walsh flick on.

Swailes popped up again in the 35th minute un-marked on the edge of the Town six yard box and really should have scored, instead he flashed his header wide.

At the opposite end Heverin was proving to be a real pain in Rammy's side, challenging for everything and putting defenders constantly under pressure, forcing them into more and more suicidal back passes to Horridge, who was getting a lifetime's practice in shuttle runs off his line to the edge of his box.

Rammy's patient approach play, however, finally paid dividends five minutes before the break, when Chris Clark's free kick on the left bobbled nicely for Swailes to touch past the keeper for what the Rammy fans were hoping would be the first in an avalanche of goals against Town's 10 men. But it was not to be.

The first 10 minutes of the second half saw Rammy given plenty of chances to extend their lead.

Buggie continued to chip away. A neat shot on the turn went inches wide, another forced the keeper into a good save, while a third lacked any really power.

But from the 64th minute onwards, the attacking tide turned, and Warrington, now aware that panic was setting into the Rammy minds as they struggled to force a second goal, assumed control of the midfield and began to push harder and deeper.

Their pressure resulted in a succession of corners. Fullback Farrell headed wide, skipper Lee Webster shot wide, and Mitchell popped up once more to force Matt Raywood into clearing his second shot off the line, after Horridge had parried his first.

Horridge then gobbled up a Stuart Harkness 30-yarder, but could do nothing to prevent Mitchell's 81st minute strike, which eluded the Rammy defence after his first attempt had been partially cleared.

Instead of being happy with the prospect of salvaging a point, Town almost bagged all three in the 90th minute when the Rammy defence was split far too easily, but Horridge once more sprinted off his line to pounce on the ball at Heverin's feet.

A frustrated Vince Overson gave his verdict on yet another game that Rammy let slip away.

"Everybody did what was asked of them in the first half, we looked comfortable at the back, we got the ball to the front men and they held it up well," he said. "But in the second half we lost our discipline. They were always going to put pressure on us and in doing so they became undisciplined, running at us from everywhere.

"They also put us under pressure when we had the ball. We underhit passes, got forced back further and further, and we didn't clear out lines.

"They kept knocking long balls over our back four and turned us, while we continued to try and play 'pretty' football, we became sloppy, complacent and gave the ball away too much."

After praising goalkeeper Paul Horridge's efforts in goal and as a makeshift sweeper, he added: "In the second half we started to panic as we got frustrated.

"We caused problems for ourselves, in turn that led to poor decision making."