PAUL Carden says he could not fault the effort of his Warrington Town players as they saw their Evo-Stik Premier Division title challenge end.

Yellows were held to a goalless draw by neighbours Witton Albion at Cantilever Park, with the visitors surviving a barrage of Warrington pressure in the second half.

Leaders Farsley Celtic won 2-0 at Whitby Town to ensure Carden’s side can no longer catch them, while South Shields’ injury-time winner against Scarborough Athletic allowed them to leapfrog Yellows into second.

> Yellows held to derby stalemate that ends title hopes

Carden felt fortune deserted his side at times but praised their attempts to find the all-important goal.

“Some days it just doesn’t happen for you. I can’t fault our effort and endeavour to score,” he said.

“One drops to Tony Gray and you think the net’s going to bulge.

“We had corner after corner, Marcus Cusani had a good chance, the keeper makes a couple of good saves.

“I didn’t think we were at it in the first half – I thought we were slow.

“Whilst they weren’t great themselves, they just put it in areas and we caused our own problems at times.

“We came out with a purpose in the second half. Probably 90 per cent of the second half was in their half and on another day, we score four goals.

“The way they play is very regimented. They hit Rob Hopley and have runners going off him, they look for set pieces.

“I think we handled it okay but our own game wasn’t functioning.

“Jack Mackreth and Jack Dunn went too much out of the game I think.

“That’s two of our attacking outlets who weren’t quite on it. It takes a lot of our play away because we like to get them on the ball.

“We’ve deserved to win. Witton will argue they deserved a point because of the way they defended but.

“There was a bit of fortune about that but you can’t take anything away from them.”

Yellows had a strong penalty appeal turned down after Tony Gray was bundled over by a clumsy challenge from Witton defender Luke Offord.

Carden was unhappy with the decision to wave away his side’s appeals and the overall performance of referee Conor Brown, who he labelled as “arrogant.”

“He didn’t miss our chances so we can’t blame him for everything, but it was a stone-wall penalty he missed,” he said.

“He gave free kick after free kick. He gave a foul on Alex Whittle in the first half when he’s running to the ball in front of their man. They both trip up and he gives a foul against Whitts.

“He spoke to their keeper with five minutes to go who was killing the game and moving the ball.

“That happens, but we’ve had Tony McMillan booked for time-wasting in the past.

“To go up to him with five minutes to go was a waste of time really. We’ve used three subs and so have they.

“There’s three minutes, so there’s no way there was only two minutes more of stoppages.

“He was arrogant before the game and I had a feeling we’d have issues with him.”