Town beat the Meresiders

Division One South

Ellesmere Rangers 1

Wythenshawe Town 2

Ellesmere Rangers’s recent run of good form came to an end on Saturday when they were beaten by Wythenshawe Town at Beech Grove.

The Meresiders were looking for a fifth win in six matches to keep propelling themselves away from the relegation place, swapping places with their north Shropshire rivals St Martins in the process.

But it was not to be for the Beech Grove men despite their almost perfect start as Kevin Renshaw gave them the lead inside the opening five minutes.

Renshaw’s third-minute strike was his third in as many games and Rangers would have been expecting to take all three points.

They continued to look like the better of the two sides early in the afternoon.

Shawn Melusi earned himself a good opportunity on goal in the 26th minute, but his effort was too weak to find the net before Jan Palinkas could make it back to clear the ball.

Another great chance fell for the Rangers side on the 31st minute, but again they were unable to make the most of their opportunity.

What was a strong performance from the hosts would have had everyone in attendance thinking it was only a matter of time before they extended their one-goal advantage.

But Ellesmere’s hopes were dealt a blow when a minute before the break, Town equalised through Steven Yarwood, changing both sides’ half-time team-talk.

Rangers were not down and out from the blow, battling hard for the first 25 minutes of the second period.

But Town took the lead on 70 minutes when Matthew Bryan scored to leave Rangers with an uphill battle.

A late chance to draw level fell to Renshaw for Rangers, but his effort flew just wide of the post.

It was a tense final few minutes, but Rangers were unable to overcome the challenge of coming from behind to salvage a draw.

The result leaves the Meresiders out of the relegation spot which is currently occupied by St Martins.

On Saturday, Ellesmere Rangers will make the trip to face Abbey Hulton United in the league.