By Garry Clarke
WARRINGTON Rylands’ six game unbeaten run came to a disappointing end amidst a lackluster performance at the Giant Axe against struggling Lancaster City.
After a scrappy opening, the game’s opening chance fell to Sam Egerton in the 11th minute but his stabbed shot from a corner was blocked on the line by Lancaster goalkeeper Sam Waller. A couple of minutes later a James Neild free kick found Callum Dolan unmarked in the penalty area but the league’s top scorer flicked the ball over the bar.
Lancaster, looking for their first home win of the season, started to come more into the game with Nico Evangelinos drawing a fine save from Rylands goalkeeper Joel Torrence with a low drive from the edge of the area.
Waller missed an in swinging corner and was relieved to see a team mate clear off the line in the 26th minute and ten minutes later was rescued by Calen Gallagher-Allison who nicked the ball of Dolan’s toe with a perfectly timed sliding tackle as the Rylands man rounded the keeper.
The home side roared back with Neild having to clear an Evangelinos header off the line before Kyle Brownhill gave Lancaster the lead a minute before half time. He reacted quickest to tuck home a loose after Torrence could only parry Brad Carroll’s initial attempt from close range.
The visitors fell further behind in the first minute of the second half when a Brad Hubbold’s deep in swinging free kick found Patrick Allington unmarked at the far post, unmarked he bulleted his header from a tight angle in between Torrence and the post.
Rylands hit back three minutes later when Kelly N’Mai opened his goal scoring account for the club. Taking advantage of some hesitation in the Lancaster defence he won the race to a long ball which had evaded Waller to fire it in to the net.
Rylands became more frantic in their search for an equalizer. Waller made a good save from a Dolan Free kick while Dolan also fired a shot over the bar, but Rylands resorted to playing high balls into the Lancaster area which were dealt with by a strong hardworking side.
As the game neared its end, with Rylands committing more men forward, Lancaster hitting on the break looked the more likely to score. Torrence pulled off a good save to deny Lawson while both Sam Bailey and Evangelinos fired shots just wide as a night to forget for Warrington Rylands came to an end.
LANCASTER CITY: Waller Bailey Brownhill Gallagher-Allison Allington Mellen Hubbold (Sloan) Carroll (Norris) Lawson (Likoy) Whitham Evangelinos; Subs not used: Ogunby Davidson
WARRINGTON RYLANDS: Torrance Neild Hunt Egerton Mustoe McCourt Dolan Furman Pratt Irwin (Payne) N’Mai; Subs not used : Hayde Morris Langley
GOALS – Lancaster Evangelinos 44, Allington 46 Rylands N’Mai 49
Attendance 244 Referee Andrew Daniels
Thoughts of @banim10 after tonights defeat to Lancaster #WeAreRylands pic.twitter.com/F83P1GIKcN
— Warrington Rylands FC (@RylandsFC) October 11, 2022
