Report & Pictures John Hopkins
WARRINGTON Rylands exited the FA Cup with a 0-2 defeat at The Hive Arena against Vanarama National League North side Scarborough Athletic.
Under the guidance of new manager Neil Reynolds, at the helm for his first match with The Blues, the home side were not to be phased by the team currently sitting 36 places above them in the football pyramid. The match was pretty stalemate with neither side looking like breaking the deadlock and at half time the result was goalless.
Both teams had their chances to score after the break but as Rylands were pushing forward in the 73rd minute play went to the other end where Kieran Weledji beat Luke Pilling for the first goal of the game.
Boro did their best to slow down the game, but Rylands still had belief in themselves and chased every ball. Ryan Whitley stood large in the Seadogs goal and prevented the equaliser. The match was put to rest as the North Yorkshire side floated a well-placed corner into the path of Weledji who wrong-footed Pilling once more with a header.
Reynolds described the squad’s attitude as exemplary and praised them for the way they moved the ball, stating that he had a lot of positives to take away from this match.
Focus will now be on Tuesday’s home match against Mickleover as he prepares to move Warrington Rylands off the bottom of the league table.
Reynolds joined Rylands 48 hours earlier saying: ““I know how much the fans mean to the football club and what I want to do is connect with them, and have the lads in the dressing room connect with them, hopefully I can put a smile on people’s faces with the way we are going to play. I remember last season we were bringing 500/600 fans to the ground and I want to bring that back since we need that twelve man”.
Reynolds is a well known character across non-league football, having managed Bamber Bridge from December 2016 to October 2018, before his move to FC United of Manchester where he went on to spend six years with the Northern Premier League side.
Ben Hardcastle in action
