Market Drayton Town kick off with two defeats as Shawbury United take bragging rights

The Gingerbread Men, aiming to improve on last season's mid-table finish, were seen off at Runcorn Town before a narrow midweek defeat at Shawbury United in a county derby.

Dan Dawson's troops had an opportunity to put the 4-0 defeat at Runcorn behind them immediately at Shawbury on Tuesday night.

But it was the hosts who claimed the bragging rights once again with a 3-2 success.

Eric Mensah gave Shawbury an early lead before Daniel Holdcroft levelled for 1-1 at the break. With the clash on a knife-edge the hosts struck on 75th minutes through Ablay Sowe before Ollie Dunne made it three at the death.

Holdcroft hit back with a consolation, but it was too late and capped a disappointing first few days of the season.

Boss Dawson felt his side were penalised for a below-par first half at Runcorn, where some slack defending allowed the hosts into a 2-0 lead just after half hour.

The game hinged on a potentially decisive moment 10 minutes into the second period, however, as the visitors missed a gilt-edged chance to reduce the deficit.

Captain Jack Finney saw his penalty saved by Runcorn goalkeeper Will Ebbrell, to the shot-stopper's right.

"They were better than us in the first half but not two goals better," Dawson said. "We've got to defend those better as a collective, it was really poor.

"We had a chat (at half-time) and the lads were excellent for 35 minutes. We missed a penalty for 2-1 and forced a couple of saves.

"We threw the kitchen sink at it and they caught us twice with five minutes to go.

"It was not the way we wanted to start the season. There is some frustration but some positives there.

"Their management team came and said it was a really unjust scoreline, so that is frustrating."

Drayton host Stockport Georgians for their first Greenfields clash of the season on Saturday.