WITTON Albion and 1874 Northwich both got their Northern Premier League West Division campaigns underway on Tuesday night.
Having got their campaigns underway with FA Cup victories at the weekend, both sides will have to wait for their first league victories having fallen to midweek defeats.
Witton saw a lead slip away at home to Stalybridge Celtic, who fought back late on to win 3-2 at the Bedspace Trust Community Stadium.
Having fallen behind to Josh Granite’s early goal, Albion managed to turn the game around to lead going into the final 15 minutes – Jacob Hamman equalised in first-half injury time before James Steele put them ahead with 20 minutes to go.
However, Ruben Jerome equalised for the visitors before Benni Smailes-Braithwaite plundered a late winner to ensure former Witton boss Jon Macken – now currently in charge at Stalybridge – left his old stomping ground with three points.
Nevertheless, current Albion chief Ben Harrison was unwaveringly positive about what he saw from his side as they now turn their attention to a trip to Lichfield City on Saturday.
“I’m absolutely gutted – football’s a cruel game and I don’t know how we’ve lost it,” he said.
“It was a great game of football and I hope we can be that consistent for the rest of the season because we’ll be up there.
“At this moment, maybe we haven’t got the killer instinct that they’ve got – they’re used to winning games and they know how to win games.
“I thought the first half was even and we scored right on half time – a perfect time to score.
“Then for 20 minutes of the second half, I thought we were absolutely brilliant – we had them on the ropes and Steeley’s goal was brilliant.
“Then, we just didn’t defend set pieces well enough. I’m genuinely gutted but when we dissect it, there will be many more positives than negatives.
“If we back that performance up, we won’t go far wrong.”
Elsewhere, 1874’s first game back in Step Four saw them slip to a narrow defeat at Newcastle Town.
Luca Whitney’s first-half strike was enough to earn the hosts a 1-0 victory, but manager Rory Fallon has urged his players not to dwell on the disappointment as they move onto a home game against Chasetown on Saturday.
“I thought there wasn’t much in the game, really,” he said.
“There were going to be periods in the game where we’d have to absorb pressure and I thought we did that, but one switch-off leads to the goal.
“Other than that, I thought we were competitive in the first half and had a number of chances in both halves.
“Newcastle are a competitive side in this league and we matched them for the majority of the game.
“I think the lads are enjoying it – tonight is obviously a disappointment but it’s about picking ourselves up.
“We can’t dwell on it – we’re not going to win every game but we can let defeats affect us.
“Everybody gave everything and if we keep doing that, we’ll trouble teams this season.”
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