Opening day defeat for Rylands again!

by Garry Clarke Pictures John Hopkins
MANAGER Michael Clegg was shellshocked after witnessing his Warrington Rylands team fall victim to a devastating display of first-half finishing by Radcliffe.

For the second consecutive season, the Blues started their NPL Premier Division campaign with a heavy home defeat, falling behind in the 2nd minute when a corner was only cleared as far as the edge of the box allowing Jude Oyibo to fire a half-volley into the top corner.

Ben Hardcastle and Mo Touray both went close to equalising for Rylands who thought they had levelled the scores when James Butler headed home from a long throw-in but his effort was disallowed by referee Zhahir Mustapha who had spotted a foul.

Oyibo doubled his side’s advantage in the 29th minute, being found by a corner driven low into the box he turned his marker to smash a shot into the bottom corner.
Radcliffe goalkeeper Mateusz Hewelt, named by his side as their man of the match, pulled off a great save to keep out a powerful Adama Sidibeh shot which had taken a deflection on its travels, but remained on target. The Polish custodian, on debut, also saved well to deny Matty Regan.

Radcliffe were awarded a penalty in the 41st minute when Javid Swaby-Nevin was adjudged to have tripped Jamie Morgan, Josh Hancock gave Luke Pilling no chance from the penalty spot. Six minutes into stoppage time added on to the first half former Rylands player Matt Sargent set up Jordan Hulme to complete the scoring.

Leaving Clegg to say “I was shellshocked to be honest and I didn’t really know what to say at halftime because we were 4-0 down but we’d created a hell of a lot of opportunities.
The second half became a scrappy affair with several bookings for both sides and little in the way of goalmouth action although Butler forced Hewelt into a good save on the hour mark.

Warrington Rylands: 1 Luke Pilling, 2 Clive Smith, 3 Javid Swaby-Neavin, 4 Matthew Regan, 5 James Butler, 6 Dean Furman (14 Ben Hough), 7 Ben Hardcastle, 8 James Neild, 9 Joe Piggott (Scott Bakkor), 10 Mo Touray, 11 Adama Sidibeh (12 Edy Maieco) Subs: 16 Chinedu Uche, 17 James Baillie.
Radcliffe: 1 Mateusz Hewelt, 2 Jamie Morgan, 3 Scott Duxbury, 4 Lois Maynard, 5 Rick Smith, 6 Olly Thornley, 7 Josh Hancock (16 Brad Jackson), 8 Nicky Adams, 9 Jordan Hulme (14 Luke Joyce), 10 Matthew Sargeant (15 Anthony Dudley), 11 Jude Obiyo Subs: 12 Luca Navarro, 17 Ewan Bange
After the game Michael Clegg admitted he was “scratching his head” saying “Football is a very strange game, fair play to Radcliffe they will have a great season but we didn’t make them work for their goals, four weak goals”
“We’ve had a perfectly good goal ruled out to make it 1-1 and then we’ve had a good penalty shout turned down at 1-0.”
“We don’t get too high and we won’t get too low, its only the first game of the season which always serves up mad results, unfortunately, we were one today!”
Attendance 588