Warrington Town 3 Radcliffe Borough 0

A RAPID-FIRE treble in the second period earned Warrington Town a welcome league win at home to Radcliffe Borough on Saturday.

Without three points in the league since October 4, owing to their cup exploits, Town followed up Tuesday night’s victory at Radcliffe in the Doodson Sport Cup with a repeat performance.

After a dull first half, Ashley Ruane’s brace after Steve Foster’s opener - all inside the eight minutes before the hour mark - secured victory in Evo-Stik First Division North.

Radcliffe had the better of the opening exchanges and almost took the lead on 14 minutes, when Daniel Lafferty’s header from a right wing corner was cleared off the line by Louis Corrigan.

Town were also thankful to Corrigan five minutes later, when he cleared a dangerous ball across the box from Keith Wedge.

As the half wore on, Town got more in to the game without really creating a clear cut opportunity.

They hit the woodwork five minutes before half time, when Corrigan’s curling free kick from the right hit the joint of crossbar and post.

Captain David Mannix, named on a strong bench, came on as a half-time substitute and within 12 minutes of the restart, the points were in the bag.

The first goal came on 52 minutes, when Nathan Burke’s drive from the left was diverted past the goalkeeper by Foster, and barely a minute later, more good work by Burke resulted in Ruane firing a loose ball home left-footed.

Ruane, handed a rare start in place of the injured Ben Wharton, then beat the offside trap, steadied himself and finished well, lifting a left foot shot wide of the goalkeeper on 57 minutes.

It put the hosts in a commanding position, and the game was closed out with the minimum of fuss.

Attention now turns to the trip to big-spending Salford City on Tuesday evening.

Warrington: Wills, Field (Davies), Corrigan, Burke, Hardwick, Robinson, Ruane, Roberts (Mannix), Foster (Gahgan), Colbeck, Booth. Unused subs: Doughty, Metcalfe.

Radcliffe: Cheetham, Lafferty (Magee), Wedge, Smith, Lambert, Howell, Burey, Sherlock, Cook (Mason), Rokka, Hibbert (Hindle).