by Garry Clarke
AFTER suffering their first defeat in the NPL West on Saturday, Warrington Rylands were in need of a moral boosting win when lowly Kendal Town visited Gorsey Lane.
Having survived an initial burst of pressure, Rylands soon gained control against opposition who rarely troubled goalkeeper Graeme McCall, his only first half save coming from a Greg McCarragher header from a corner in the 25th minute.
His opposite number, Oliver Lombard, was much busier as shots rained in on his goal, and crosses flew into the Kendal penalty area. Ste Milne went close on a number of occasions without finding the target as the Kendal keeper pulled off several good saves, Milne struck the post, Hassell scrapped the top of the cross bar amongst many attempts Rylands had at the visitors goal.
Rylands finally made the breakthrough three minutes into the second half. Clearing a Kendal free kick from their area, Rylands played the ball long down the left wing, Callum Dolan picked out Milne with a pass inside, surrounded by defenders Milne took his time, picked his spot and fired it out of the reach of Lombard in to the bottom corner.
A couple of minutes later Rick Smith almost made it two, but his powerful header from a corner was kept out by a good save from Lombard. Kendal failed to clear their lines with the ball falling to Owen Robinson on the edge of the area, but his shot flew wide.
A competitive, hard fought game boiled over on the hour mark when Rylands Warren Gerrard slid slightly late into a 50/50 challenge prompting players from both sides to come together in a bout of pushing and shoving. When order was restored Gerrard was issued with his second red card of the week.
Eight minutes later Luke Wall doubled Rylands advantage. He floated a free kick from out on the right wing into the Kendal area, Lombard came to collect the ball but as it dropped out of the night sky he could only help it on its way into his net.
Referee Tom Swift showed his second straight red card of the evening in the 90th minute when Kendal captain McCaragher let his frustrations get the better of his as he hacked down a Rylands player from behind. McCaragher had been Kendal’s most dangerous player forcing McCall into a couple of good saves in the second half.
Kendal scored a consolation goal in the 5th minute of stoppage time through Chris Wraighte, but Rylands held on for the win which moves them up to 3rd in the table.
WARRINGTON RYLANDS: McCall Gerrard Wall Smith Egerton Earl Doyle Hassall (Molyneux) Milne (Hughes) Dolan (Lees) Robinson; Subs not used Denman Buxton
KENDAL TOWN: Lombard Patrick Butterfield-Steede Fagan (Mansh) Jeanne Parra Wraighte McCaragher Zama Yahaya (Gardner) Varela (Milburn)
GOALS Rylands Milne 48, Wall 68 Kendal Wraighte 95
ATTENDANCE 155 REFEREE T Swift
