By Dan Noble · Published November 2020
Warrington Rylands 3-0 Congleton Town - by Dan Noble
In the final game before the second national lockdown, Warrington Rylands moved to first place in the North West Counties Premier Division with a comfortable 3-0 win over Congleton Town.
Goals from Kane Drummond, Elliott Nevitt and Charlie Doyle secured the win for Rylands as they maintained their unbeaten run to five league games and picked up their fourth win of the campaign.
David McNabb’s side endured a shaky start to the game as the home side went close to opening the scoring twice inside the first 11 minutes, but were unable to take their chances as Lee Williamson failed to connect with the ball from inside the six-yard box before Daniel Cope’s volley forced an excellent diving save from Graeme McCall.
After weathering the early storm, the Blues began to play their way into the game and came close to opening the scoring just two minutes after McCall denied Cope. Elliott Nevitt got on the end of long ball from Warren Gerrard as he used his pace to evade the opposing defenders and unleashed a powerful strike that rattled the post.
Rylands soon began to dominate the game and were rewarded for their efforts after 28 minutes when Kane Drummond broke the deadlock. The young winger found space in the box and was brought down after taking the ball past the goalkeeper but managed to get back on his feet to slot home into the bottom right corner.
1-0 Rylands
The away side took control of the game after the opening goal and started to push for a second goal. New signing Jack Tinning looked to open his goal scoring account for the club with a long-range effort that took a huge deflection and bounced just wide of the mark. McNabb’s men knew they would have to take their chances if they had any chance of holding the lead and in the 38th minute they did just that. Drummond displayed some eye-catching skill to beat his man before cutting the ball back to Nevitt who made now mistake in firing home his fourth goal in three games for the club.
2-0 Rylands
The first half came to a close at the right time for Congleton who were certainly feeling the pressure that the Rylands attack had bombarded them with right up until the referee blew his whistle to signal the end of the first period.
Half time: Warrington Rylands 2-0 Congleton Town
As the second half kicked off, the Blues picked up where they had left off before the half and continued to search for a goal to put the game to bed. Again, it was Drummond causing problems for the home side as he dribbled past two defenders and put a superb cross towards Nevitt at the back post, however, the big number nine was unable to get to the ball.
From that point on it was clear the game was only going one way and Rylands thought they had grabbed a third when Charlie Doyle’s blocked shot landed at the feet of Drummond who turned the ball into the net just as the linesman’s flag went up.
The disappointment of the marginal offside seemed to spur the visitors on and it did not take long for them to add their third goal of the game. Andy Scarisbrick played a pinpoint pass into the path of Doyle who wasted no time in lifting the ball over the David Parton in the Bears’ goal.
3-0 Rylands
The Rylands attack was not satisfied with just three goals and really should have added a fourth late on as Drummond took the ball past the ‘keeper for a second time in the game but could not get the shot away and fell over under pressure from the two centre-backs. The home team had only just taken back possession of the ball as the referee brought matters to a close.
The win sees Rylands extend their NWCFL Premier Division points tally to 13 points after five games and now sit above Northwich Victoria on goal difference despite having played two games less.
Due to the latest government regulations, the league is now on hold for four weeks and Warrington Rylands will have to wait until then to continue their rich vein of form.
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