Report & Pictures John Hopkins
WARRINGTON Rylands went down to a narrow 1-0 defeat from a 12th-minute goal by Danny Elliott as they played the league leaders Macclesfield at the Leasing.com Stadium on Saturday.
Macclesfield have yet to lose a game this season with Elliott having already scored 10 goals, and look set to take automatic promotion into the Vanarama National League North.
Playing on their 4G pitch in front of a crowd of over 3000 the Silkmen took control of the match straight from the kick-off. Warrington struggled to keep hold of the ball as Macclesfield continually chased them down and when Elliott was one-to-one with Luke Pilling he made no mistake, slotting the ball under the sun-blinded keeper’s arms.
The Blues, playing in their usual away red kit, didn’t lose spirit and had a couple of chances of their own, the closest coming when Ntumba Massanka headed over the bar from a confident Jack Daniels cross.
Manager Neil Reynold’s halftime team talk gave them encouragement. With their backs to the sun they appeared much stronger and came close to scoring the equaliser. The final kick of the match was a goal-bound James Baillie free kick which was tipped over the bar by keeper Max Dearnley.
Reynolds said there were so many good performances considering the debutants had not had time to train with the rest of the squad. The game plan was excellent but he was disappointed to be beaten. However, he feels things are going in the right direction and he is really proud of the team.
There will be no practice this Tuesday when Warrington will be travelling to Matlock Town for an evening kick-off.