WITTON Albion flirted with danger for longer than they should before a late swish of Brad Bauress’ left boot wiped the frowns from worried faces.

His side had played the final quarter a man down following Paul Williams’ needless dismissal, and were fortunate not to have frittered away a two-goal lead established inside five minutes.

The midfielder, on target now in six successive matches, swept in at the end of a stylish counter-attack to settle the outcome.

Perhaps Carl Macauley’s men were lucky, but after fog, frozen goalmouths and a frightful referee thwarted them in the past month, they were likely due.

The bounty felt weightier too after promotion rivals above them in the table dropped points.

That said, Albion appeared on course to enjoy a carefree afternoon after a blistering start.

Less than 60 seconds had elapsed when Tolani Omotola poked the ball past Gresley goalkeeper Rob Peet to punish indecisive defending by the visitors.

The teenager had not scored since October 22.

Peet produced a stunning reaction stop to prevent Tom Owens from doubling Witton’s lead, but he could only admire Bauress’ brilliant strike from the resulting corner.

Despite an acute angle on the edge of the penalty area, he swerved a perfectly-placed finish into the net.

And it was pretty much from there that Albion, maybe tricked by feeling superior to slow-starting guests, simply stopped playing.

Without suspended leading scorer Rob Hopley, their attack – with Karl Noon and recent recruit Jamie Hinchliffe supporting Omotola – lacked cohesion.

Prince Haywood’s dynamism was absent from midfield too.

Gresley grew in confidence, and dominated the half’s remainder.

Danny Roberts reacted smartly to block with his boot when Lucas Harrison fired goal-wards, while skipper Jamie Barrett stretched to divert the latter’s deep cross against the outside of an upright.

Reece Morris then steered in a goal the away side deserved in the seconds before the break.

Tendai Chitiza wriggled away from Michael Wilson before shooting at Roberts shortly after the interval, then skewed high from inside the six-yard box after throwing himself at Matthew Melbourne’s cross.

Macauley responded by sending on Ryan Hickman and Steven Tames, returning after a month-long absence through injury, before adjusting further when Scott Lycett came on to form a three-man defence.

It blunted Gresley’s sharpness until Williams, already cautioned, hauled an opponent to the floor in frustration after fluffing his control of a simple pass.

Referee Peter Shacklady had no alternative but to send him off.

Gresley sensed an opportunity, and Melbourne fizzed an attempt narrowly over.

They were denied a certain goal by Anthony Brown’s match-saving tackle with Chitiza in shooting stride, then Josh Egginton blazed wildly off-target from the resulting corner.

He will have felt even worse watching Bauress demonstrate the composure he had lacked to arc in a third goal for Albion from their next foray forward.

It was cruel, and classy too.

“I’m gutted – we lost the game inside six minutes,” rued Gresley boss Damion Beckford-Quailey afterwards.