Report & pictures John Hopkins
A match with a penalty at each end of the 90 minutes resulted in a 1 – 1 draw after Warrington Rylands had taken the long journey to Tyne and Wear to play against Hebburn Town FC at The Trustmark Group Stadium.
Hebburn, who haven’t lost a game in all matches since August 16th, were in high spirits when they took to the pitch but Rylands, similarly pleased with just two losses in all matches, were up for the battle.
The Blues were quick out of the blocks and earned an early, 5th minute corner. Ben Hardcastle played a short pass to Ben Hough, but was obstructed when playing the returned ball. Picking himself up off the ground he was awarded a penalty. Hardcastle appears to be finding his form again and stepped up to beat Dan Cameron from the spot.
Without key defenders Matt Regan and Scott Holding (who failed a fitness test in warm-up) and Tunde Owolabi and Jake Burton on the bench Rylands were still good enough to take control of the pitch. However, The Hornets did manage to test Luke Pilling from a breakaway run, but he was up to the task yet again.
A slip by Clive Smith high up the pitch gave the home supporters hope of a goal but, as the lone striker ran toward goal under pressure from Rylands defenders running back, his shot went high and wide.
Warrington tested Cameron many times, but he was also up to the task and received The Man of the Match award after the game. If all the chances were taken the game would have been out of sight but Hebburn fought back and after 79 minutes, the referee pointed to the spot for a debatable penalty decision. Ethan Wood placed the ball just out of Pilling’s reach to level the score.
Neil Reynolds made changes. On came Jake Burton, Tunde Owolabi and Jeanny Akpo and Rylands continued to test the ability of Cameron.
Unfortunately, they couldn’t land the winning goal to give Reno a celebratory victory for his first anniversary with Rylands.
Warrington Rylands will make the same journey to Newcastle upon Tyne next Saturday, 4th October, to compete in the FA Trophy against Dunston UTS.
Ben Hough
