By Garry Clarke
AFTER recording their biggest win of the season in their last home game and beating league leaders Radcliffe away last Saturday, Warrington Rylands welcome local rivals Atherton Collieries to the Hive Arena on Saturday, kick off 3pm.
The two teams drew 1-1 at the Skuna Stadium in August but their fortunes have gone in different directions since then with Rylands having occupied 2nd place in the NPL Premier Division table for most of the season while Atherton have struggled.
After taking a point off Rylands earlier in the season they have occupied a relegation berth since August and returned to the bottom spot on Tuesday when they lost 5-0 at home to Marine.
With 1 win, 2-1 at Bradford (Park Avenue), in their last six games and 5 defeats Colls are also bottom of the division’s current form table, a table Rylands currently top with 4 wins, a draw and a defeat.
Today’s two team’s league records this season are:
P W D L GF GA GD PTS POS
Rylands 20 12 6 2 35 19 16 42 2
Colls 21 3 2 16 20 54 -34 11 22
Rylands manager Michael Clegg who managed Atherton for five seasons is aware of a potential banana skin they present for his charges saying
“This week presents a new challenge for the squad but if we can maintain the high levels that we reached last weekend we will be all right.
They are having a tough time at the moment which is really difficult for me to watch from far because I have so much love for the club which has so many good people behind the scenes and it will be a tough test. They’re obviously fighting for their lives but we can’t be having any sentiment here as we need three points and to put in another good performance.”
After Saturday Warrington Rylands travel to 5th placed Marine on Boxing Day to complete their fixtures for 2023, having started the year with a 3-1 win at Marine on 2nd January.
This game is all ticket and must be purchased in advance through the Marine FC website.
The Blues kick off 2024 with a home game on New Year’s Day against Macclesfield, whilst this is not an all ticket game advance ticket sales are available via the club’s face book page.
