CARL Macauley said that Warrington Town’s winning goal felt like a ‘punch to the guts’ after Witton Albion again conceded late on Boxing Day.

Substitute Jack Mackreth scored in the third minute of added time to secure for Yellows a 2-1 win that halted their hosts’ five-match unbeaten run in the Northern Premier League’s top-flight.

“It’s a blow that hurts,” said Macauley.

“I’m upset with how we let them score, and not for the timing, but rather the way we defended.

“There was no pressure on the ball in midfield and then we made the mistake of trying to catch their guy offside instead of dropping deeper and keeping him in front of us.

“It was poor on our part.”

The Witton manager told the Guardian that his side had been second-best before the break, and might have been further adrift than just Jack Dunn’s opener before James Foley equalised.

However he took corrective measures during the interval to restore balance to a contest that Town controlled for 45 minutes.

He said: “We needed to be better because we were hanging on in the first-half.

“They missed opportunities, and we have to be honest and say they were much better than we were.

“We tried to figure out how we could get back into the game, and to stop them from doing the things they were good at.

“I think that we did that, and we also had more of a go at them too.”

Warrington midfielder Evan Gumbs was shown a red card by referee Jonathan Maskrey with time running out when the game was still level at 1-1.

It didn’t deter Yellows from attacking though, and Mackreth floored the home team in the same way that another replacement – Tony Gray – had done in the corresponding fixture last season.

Macauley added: “My lads deserve credit for battling the way that they did and they put in another shift for me.

“We can take heart from that.

“Warrington have quality in their squad, and they’re so strong. They didn’t even need Gray because they have others who can hurt you.”