Witton Albion 4 North Ferriby United 2
ADAM Warlow’s genuine hat-trick of sheer class was almost overshadowed by a most unusual Albion performance, at Wincham Park on Saturday.
That they almost squandered their striker’s first half threesome tells the tale itself.
After all, they were 3-1 up at the break and Ferriby arrived as the second worst team in the UniBond Premier Division.
On this display they proved the lie in the positions. They were good and worthy of a point.
But they were helped by Witton’s own, at times, incompetence. A team that started the day having only conceded three goals in league matches at home were driven to some desperate defending to cover up their own errors.
Warlow netted three and Ferriby’s Gary Bradshaw could have been his equal in numbers at least scoring twice and frequently popping up the wrong side of a suddenly confused back four.
Bradshaw plundered Witton’s mistakes. Warlow was simply superb.
After scoring two in his first 14 games of the season he has now claimed 15 in 10 games, including four hat-tricks, the latest being with his head, his right foot and then his left.
In the 11th minute Cavell Coo and Rod Thornley made space with their passes to set Mark Peers off down the right wing like a hare at a greyhound track.
With a beautiful flow to the move he crossed for the inrushing Warlow to head home.
Witton lapsed into an indifferent spell not making clearances or key passes cleanly, but all looked well again in the 37th minute when Warlow came out of aerial challenge in control of the ball. He held off Mike Price to blast the ball into the far side of the net with his right foot.
And as half-time neared he took a short pass from Peers, sidestepped two defenders and struck another 18 yarder into the same spot with the same certainty with his left.
Coo, however, presented Bradshaw with a toe poked second inside a minute of the resumption. We was not ruthless enough in the six yards box and the ball rolled off him to the experienced Ferriby’s hitman.
Bradshaw later brought a great save from Jon Kennedy and only sporadically did Witton counter the visitors industry with anything like their usual standard of football.
Until injury time that is. Dave MacPherson a clearance cum pass from inside his own half and Rob Thornley scampered into the box to clip the ball past the advancing goalkeeper Antoni Pecora.
WITTON: Kennedy; Coo (Spearitt 72), Kearney, Pritchard, Brownhill; Wilson (Wood 58), Lloyd, MacPherson, Peers (Brodie 82); Warlow, Thornley.
Att: 373
