GIVEN what happened the last time they visited Scarborough Athletic, Warrington Town could be forgiven for heading there on Good Friday with added motivation.
However, manager Mark Beesley says the memory of a play-off final defeat to the Seadogs two years ago has already served its purpose.
The first part of Town’s Easter weekend double header sees them make their first return to a ground upon which they lost the Northern Premier League Premier Division promotion showdown in May 2022.
The entire coaching staff from that day remain at the club along with seven of the 17 players in the squad that day, but Beesley insists the pain of that day helped them finish the job and gain promotion to the National League North 12 months later.
As such, he and the squad are treating their trip to the Yorkshire coast like any other.
“The motivation from that day helped us last season but now, I think any feeling about it has gone,” he said.
“What happened when we last went there fuelled the fire for last season and it proved to be exactly what we needed.
“You hear it said all the time that you’ve got to lose to learn and that’s what we did.
“For us, we have to just take it as another game.”
It is a second lengthy away trip of the week for Town, who won 3-1 at Peterborough Sports on Tuesday to rebound from a 2-0 home defeat to Scunthorpe United on Saturday.
It is certainly an unrelenting schedule with Darlington arriving in Warrington for an Easter Monday showdown and while they must first deal with Scarborough, Beesley says there is a determination to correct their recent form which has seen them slip to three defeats in a row at Cantilever Park.
“We’re disappointed as a group that we’ve lost a few home games of late,” he said.
“You want to win every game but especially on your own back yard, you want to take on teams and entertain.
“We haven’t done that of late and that’s a big frustration for us.
“When games come quickly, they can generate momentum and that’s what we’re looking to do.
“The first task after Saturday was to go away on Tuesday and win, which we’ve done and now we’ve got to dust ourselves down and go again.
“We’re back on the bus on Friday morning – the schedule is what it is and Scarborough will have the advantage not having played during the week.
“We’ll have some tired bodies but we’ll have a look at the team and go from there.”
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