On a day where the visitors had several players returning to their old stomping ground, there was always likely to be tension between the two sides, but rather than a former Red getting involved it was former Barwell skipper Scott Clamp who further fired up the passions writes Russell Brown.

The flashpoint occurred early in the game when Clamp was high with a challenge on Craig Gregg near the centre circle and with the Red’s reacting angrily to the incident, order needed to be restored before Clamp saw the referee raise the red card to end his involvement in the contest.

Going a man down so early in the game should have spelt real trouble for the Scholars, but for long periods of the first half, the numerical disadvantage was not that apparent. Perrow had an appeal for a penalty turned away before Tyrone Barnett lost control of the ball in a good position as Willenhall countered.

Just before the break, Perrow was played through on goal and with the Chasetown hot shot lining up his sights, a superbly timed challenge from the impressive Sean Platt robbed the striker of the opportunity. Barnett then brought a routine save from Evans as the teams left the field on an even keel at least in terms of the score line.

It took a quality moment to spark an otherwise mundane game as a ball in from the Willenhall right, dropped over the head of John Branch. Craig Milligan had just pulled away from the Chasetown captain and was able to control the ball on his chest and hook it past Lee Evans in one fluid motion that saw the ball flash past the keeper from an acute angle before Evans could react.

That pumped up Willenhall's biggest crowd of the season and substitute Josh McKenzie could have made things worse for the Scholars as his reaction to a half blocked effort saw the new boy hammer in the rebound only to see his celebrations cut short by the assistants raised flag.

For Chasetown, even the introduction of Nathan Lamey and on loan Walsall youngster Dexter Ravenhill could not inspire the Blues as they just could not find a way back into the game and at the final whistle, that 46th minute goal proved priceless for the current Reds at Willenhall.

Chasetown: Evans, J Branch, M Branch, Spittle, Penny, Williams, Clamp, Hawkins, Smith (Lamey), Perrow (Ravenhill), Woodvine

Other Subs: Perry, Craven, Holland (not used)