By Garry Clarke
TWO first half goals by Kane Drummond set Warrington Rylands on their way to winning the final game of their pre-season campaign as they defeated NPL East Shildon 4-1.
Shildon, opponents of Rylands on their road to Wembley, had their arrival at Gorsey Lane delayed on route from the north east meaning the game kicked off 30 minutes late.
Not that the delay had seemed to have affected them as they started the game lively enough and forced a couple of corners in the opening minutes before Rylands opened the scoring in the 14th minute. Callum Dolan picked out Kane Drummond with a ball played over the top of the Shildon defence; Drummond coolly slid the ball past Shildon goalkeeper Alex Curran.
The same two players combined 20 minutes later to double the Blues advantage after Adam Buxton broke up a Shildon attack and found Dolan in the centre of the pitch. Dolan split open the Shildon defence with a pass which Drummond ran onto to slid the ball past Curran.
Shildon halved the deficit nine minutes into the second half when Chay Liddle curled a free kick from 20 yards out over the defensive wall and out of the reach of Rylands goalkeeper Sam Tickle.
Rylands restored their two goal advantage two minutes later, Josh Langley heading home from a Dolan corner.
Both teams swapped chances, Joe Posthill going closest for Shildon and Johnny Hunt for Rylands, before Dolan completed the scoring in the 77th minute. Chasing a long ball he held off the challenges of two defenders to fire past Curran.
So, Warrington Rylands ended what had been a disappointing pre-season programme with their best performance, now onto next Saturday and their first game in the NPL Premier.
WARRINGTON RYLANDS: Tickle Hayde Hunt Neild Langley Buxton McCourt Furman Dolan Brooke Drummond; SUBS: Walker Egerton Morris Scarisbrick Barrigan Irwin
SHILDON: Curran Heywood Pascoe Liddle White Vaulks Kneeshaw Trotter Thexton Weiss Posthill; SUBS: Booth Dixon Steets Mortimer
