WARRINGTON Rylands suffered their heaviest defeat since joining the NPL Premier League five years ago as Redcar Athletic ran out 5–0 winners at Gorsey Lane on Saturday.
The match began at a lively pace, with both sides creating early opportunities. After just four minutes, Ben Hardcastle fired a shot narrowly over Josh Mazfari’s goal, before Luke Pilling produced a fine reaction save at the other end eight minutes later.
Neither side was able to establish control, although a number of unforced errors began to creep into the Rylands performance.
Redcar broke the deadlock 15 minutes before half-time when Adam Boyes found the back of the net. Rylands came closest to an equaliser when captain Dean Furman sent an effort narrowly over the bar.
With Rylands already dealing with a lengthy injury list, Neil Reynolds was able to return to the bench after completing his four-match suspension. George Waring initially moved into the centre-half position rather than his usual role up front, although he later returned to the number nine position before being moved back into defence.
Redcar doubled their advantage shortly after the interval. Pilling made a strong-handed save as the ball flashed across the face of goal, but it struck defender Clive Smith and rebounded into the corner of the net.
Two goals down, Reno made changes in an attempt to give his side greater attacking threat, reducing the defensive numbers in the process.
However, the changes were soon punished. A poor ball from Pilling went straight to a Redcar player, allowing Andrei-Vasile Ardelean to send the ball straight back towards goal and make it 3–0.
Redcar were now playing with growing confidence and immediately went in search of another. When Rylands failed to clear their lines, Ardelean struck again to complete his brace and put the visitors firmly in control.
To their credit, Rylands continued to battle and produced some of their best football of the afternoon with five minutes remaining. Unfortunately, the final ball once again proved their downfall as an effort sailed over the bar and out of the ground.
Substitute Ryan Tioffo was next to come close, but his effort also cleared the crossbar and ended up in the car park.
The final goal went to Curtis Round, who pounced on a weak back pass to complete a miserable afternoon for the Blues.
Manager Reno now has to lift the spirits of his squad and prepare them for Tuesday’s trip to Workington on the 25th.
