Trafford’s dismal away form continued on Saturday when they fell to a single goal defeat on the all-weather pitch at Widnes meaning that they haven’t won on the road since a 5-1 victory at Kendal Town on October 2nd.
Danny Caldecott’s side started brightly with some neat possession football and in the 10th minute Matty Morgan, returning to the club after a brief spell at Colne, broke down the left and sent a piercing cross to the back post that just eluded Ollie Ford.
Just a minute later, however, Widnes took the lead when a quick break left John McGrath in oceans of space in the inside right channel and he advanced to neatly clip the ball past the advancing Matty Cooper.
Trafford centre back Keil O’Brien was then desperately unlucky to see his header from a Connor Hughes corner rebound off the crossbar and in the 21st minute McGrath almost notched a second when the ball ricocheted off his knee but was blocked by Cooper’s legs.
The remainder of the first half saw little goalmouth action with Trafford again controlling the midfield and enjoying the majority of the possession but with little or no end product and at half-time Caldecott replaced Ollie Ford with Jamal Crawford.
The young winger made an immediate impact, injecting greater urgency and pace into his team and causing the Widnes left back all sorts of problems.
Astley Mulholland struck a drive from 25 yards that was held by Cameron Terry whilst at the other end, James McCulloch headed a left wing corner just past the upright.
It was now virtually all Trafford but once again they lacked a cutting edge and a succession of crosses into the Widnes penalty area was comfortably dealt with by their big defenders.
The only sniff of a chance arrived in the 82nd minute when a long pass out of defence fell to Matty Morgan on the edge of the Widnes penalty area but unfortunately Morgan’s touch let him down and the ball was cleared.
With Trafford pushing players forward in search of an equaliser, gaps appeared at the other end and Trafford keeper Cooper was twice called into action, saving well to thwart a low drive by Alex McMillan and then parrying a thunderous shot by substitute Sam Adetaloye.
The final whistle signalled another disappointing result for Trafford and left them to reflect on the fact that they have now gone eight games without an away win during which they have scored just five goals.
However, they have the chance to address this on Tuesday night when they travel to play Bury AFC at Radcliffe in the Quarter Final of the Manchester Premier Cup before entertaining City of Liverpool on Saturday in a Northern Premier League fixture, kick off 3 p.m.

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