by John Hopkins
MANAGER Neil Reynolds took Warrington Rylands to FC United of Manchester on Tuesday evening and came home with a controversial 2 – 2 draw as Ben Hardcastle scored from a free kick in injury time.
The match was played in cold and snowy conditions at Broadhurst Park with both sides having recently climbed out of the relegation zone and hoping to rise further up the league table.
Rylands played with their free-flowing and entertaining style of football whilst FC United were happy to sit back in defence and clear the long ball upfield to their forwards. With four minutes of the first half left to play Jay Fitzmartin received the ball and beat Luke Pilling to take the lead.
Warrington must have been given a good team talk during the break; before a large number of supporters had even returned to their seats Jake Daniels carried the ball down the left sending a perfect cross to the feet of Jake Burton who tapped it in for the equaliser.
United made all of their substitutions as they began to put The Blues under pressure and were rewarded with a penalty which Adam Le Fondre netted for the lead once again.
The tides changed again as Warrington fought back and FC tried to hold on to their advantage.
With the pressure being applied, deep into injury time George Waring was given a push in the back as he jumped for the ball and the referee gave a free kick just outside the penalty area. Ben Hardcastle stepped up and lady fortune was with him as his deflected shot beat keeper Conor O’Keefe for the equaliser.
Two progressing teams with relatively new managers presented an interesting match and with both side taking a point from the battle seems fitting for their efforts
Hopefully the weather will be better for Saturday as Warrington Rylands host Leek Town at The Hive Arena, 3.00pm kick-off.
