PAUL Carden says his Warrington Town side were “outstanding” for an hour but “went away from everything good” in the closing stages of their 4-2 win at Atherton Collieries.

Yellows were 3-0 up at half time and four goals to the good on the hour mark at the Skuna Stadium before allowing their hosts to raise prospects of an unlikely comeback.

> VERDICT: Quality in attack but defensive issues prolonged

Still, they closed out their first victory of the new BetVictor Northern Premier Division campaign and for that, Carden was pleased.

However, he was naturally disappointed that his side could not hold on for a clean sheet.

“For an hour, we were outstanding. We controlled the game and created chances,” he said.

“We were carving them open and we restricted them.

“I said at half time that, as comfortable as we were, the one thing we had to give Atherton credit for is that they didn’t stop.

“They are a team full of enthusiasm and youth and they will get points because of that.

“I felt we went away with everything good about our play and from going 4-0 up, I was really disappointed with the manner of the goals we conceded.

“We’ve conceded a couple of sloppy ones on Saturday and another two tonight, so that’s something we were working on.”

Carden made five changes to his side from Saturday’s opening-day defeat to Morpeth Town with three of the players to come in – Jack Mackreth, Louis Barnes and Matty Chadwick – getting on the scoresheet.

The Town boss explained the thinking behind the changes made.

“Adam (Carden), Dylan (Vassallo) and Dave (Raven) were all injured, so those changes were forced upon me,” he said.

“We brought Louis Barnes back in as a recognised left-back, putting a round peg in a round hole.

“I wanted to see what Chaddy and Tony (Gray) looked like as a pairing, because we know what Josh Amis and Tony look like. To be fair, it worked really well at times.

“We have got the strength in both areas to make those changes and we looked good for them.”

Full video reaction from the Yellows boss above