Town This Week - For Vini.

Vini Desouza via Warrington Town FC

Town This Week will be a bit different. Saturday's draw against Chorley and yesterday's defeat against Scarborough will be covered after a brief comment on the tragic news that came out of Warrington Town on Monday.

Vini Desouza was a promising prospect within the Town ranks. Joining the club's youth setup in 2023, Vini had eyes on him from the start as a Brazilian coming through the ranks at Warrington Town of all clubs. He was the scorer of some amazing goals in the youth side and held his own when featuring for the first team in friendlies and cup competitions. A place in the Town squad was certainly on the horizon for Vini and I'm sure he would have established himself as an important player for us in the future. Unfortunately, Desouza's passing was announced by The Yellows in a shock for all fans. However, I'm writing this today to say how incredible it is to see the outreach and comments left in honour of this young talent. From outreach from rival clubs and fans to the JustGiving page receiving over 1335% more donations than the original goal of £1,000, now at a total of £13,357, which is to be given to Vini's family. This incredible amount was helped out by Town fans, players, club officials and even one Jesse Lingard. Not only this, but the minute's applause was really well done by both home and away fans. The chant in the 10th minute for Vini was also great and it was nice to see how many people donated whatever change they had to the buckets that the Under 21 squad had. It's so good to see togetherness at this time and I am sure it is greatly appreciated by Vini's family and friends. Although it won't mean much, Vini Desouza will have his name permanently added to the squad section of The Town Reporter website. Vini will forever be a Yellow and will be missed dearly.

A minutes applause for Vini Desouza against Scarborough

Onto the football now and Town managed to grab a point to end the losing streak against Chorley thanks to a very late goal from a returning Andy White! The game couldn't have started worse for Town, as Chorley found themselves in front off a long throw into the box that wasn't dealt with and Ellis was on hand to put the visitors ahead. Elliot Morris was then forced off with a knee injury as Town continued to push for an equaliser, having several penalty shouts and big chances. The second half came along and it saw quite the hectic half as Nolan received a second yellow card and was sent off for the second time this season against Warrington. This gave Town some hope as they continued their quest for an equaliser, however things would get worse before they got better. Bohan Dixon would lunge into a challenge that the referee deemed to be a red card offense and sent the Town man off, reducing both sides to 10. It felt like it'd be another disappointing loss but Andy White had another idea. The left back came off the bench for the first time in 3 months ,following a lengthy spell on the sideline, and made an instant impact by scoring the equaliser in the 98th minute of the game. Chorley would go up to the other end of the pitch and have a spot denied by a wonderful stop by Danny Atherton. The full time whistle went and the Yellows had found a way to grab a point and looked like some momentum would be building after the impressive performance at Hereford. 

Momentum hadn't built up though, as Town fell to a 2-0 defeat to Scarborough on home soil. Fans were in good spirits going into the game as performances had improved and a win was surely on the horizon. Transfer news came before the game though, as Town confirmed the signing of former Oldham, Scunthorpe and Tranmere forward Devarn Green. The 28 year old had a brief loan spell at the club back in the 2017/18 season, making 15 appearances for the club. He arrives with compliments in abundance, with rival fans stating it as a top signing for the club. He would make his debut in the 2-0 defeat and did look exciting upon his substitute appearance. The game was quite the opposite of exciting though. A switch to a 3-5-2 formation would not work out and Scarborough would take the lead from a very scruffy bit of play, with Bennet tapping it in for the visitors. The second half would see a lot more chances fall the way of Town, with Wrexham loanee Aaron James having a header cleared off the line before Josh Amis was unable to put the ball in the back of the net from a few yards out. A corner then came for the Seadogs and was dispatched following a header into the top corner. Town were then unable to really find a way to grab anything from the game after that and would slump to another defeat.

Overall, there are still points to play for and an opportunity to perhaps survive but with only 12 games left, those chances are incredibly slim. A season of momentum never really arriving for Town has us in the position that we find ourselves in and we should probably start planning for life back in the NPL. We keep going though, we show togetherness and we show character and lets just go out fighting. As previously said, Warrington Town isn't held together by being a National League North side and should continue to have the support it's had during our time in this division if we are to go down. Let's remind people that this Town has a football club that needs our support and learn from our experiences to become better.