by Garry Clarke Pictures John Hopkins
A lethargic Warrington Rylands slumped to defeat for the first time in 2022 losing by a single goal at Kidsgrove Athletic.
Playing their third away game in a week Rylands were out enthused by a hard-working well organized team determined to put to an end a sequence of eight games without a win and start to pull away from the relegation zone.
The home side enjoyed the better of the first half territory without threatening too much as both sides were restricted to shooting from distance, Warren Gerrard and Callum Dolan both firing into the Kidsgrove keeper’s arms while Anthony Malbon fired over Rylands bar.
After a dull first half the second was much livelier.
A couple of minutes after the break, Rick Smith got on the end of a free-kick played into the Kidsgrove area, he nodded the ball down to David Webb whose volley drew a great save from Kidsgrove keeper Ryan Brown.
The home side started to dominate. From a 54th minute corner Callum Lovatt had a header cleared off the line, and six minutes later from another corner Declan O’Riorden saw his header saved by Graeme McCall.
Substitute Tom Bentham went close to scoring for Rylands in the 62nd minute. Bringing down a Dolan cross, he turned his marker but dragged his shot on the turn just wide of the target.
The game’s decisive moment came in 70th minute. Kidsgrove swung in another corner from their right, at the near post Malbon flicked the ball on guiding his header into the net at the far post.
In the closing stages Kidsgrove worked hard to maintain control of the game while Rylands performance continued to be littered with too many miss placed passes.
As the game entered stoppage time Rylands launched one last desperate attempt to salvage a point. Bentham got his head to a long ball pumped into the Kidsgrove area; he knocked the ball down to fellow substitute Matty Hughes who from a tight angle screwed his shot across the face of goal.
Seconds later the referee blew his whistle for full time.
Speaking after the game assistant manager Fraser Ablett said that from “1-16 simply wasn’t good enough” and “as a collective, a lot have to take a long hard look at themselves after today.”
See full interview below.
Matty Hughes – Picture John Hopkins
Kane Drummond -Picture John Hopkins
KIDSGROVE – R Brown, Byers (K Brown), Bridge, Urwin (Lovett), Jepson, O’Riorden, Leigh, Blake, Adu-Gyamfi, Malbon, Johnson (Cocks). Subs not used Bromfield, Morris.
RYLANDS – McCall, Walker (Bentham), Allen, Neild, Smith, Gerrad (Coveney), Doyle (Hughes), Webb, Dolan, Scarisbrick, Drummond. Subs not used Simpson, Tinning.
GOALS – Kidsgrove Malbon 70
Attendance 247 Referee Oliver Nolan.
Here’s the thoughts of Fraser Ablett after today’s defeat. #WeAreRylands pic.twitter.com/46fSySbcpm
— Warrington Rylands FC (@RylandsFC) January 22, 2022
And here’s David Webb, with his thoughts on today’s game. #WeAreRylands pic.twitter.com/QDZRvU5jsr
— Warrington Rylands FC (@RylandsFC) January 22, 2022
