Warrington Rylands were held to a 1-1 draw by Stockton Town at the Quickline Logistics Arena, with the Blues having to settle for a point despite taking the lead.
Rylands started brightly, with a dangerous cross finding Calum Costello, who was marked by two defenders and could only glance his effort wide.
Costello then came remarkably close from near the halfway line after catching the Stockton goalkeeper, Nathan Harker, out near the touchline, only for Tom Coulthard to hurry back and clear the ball off the line.
The hosts continued to threaten as Costello produced a wonderful touch and run before cutting the ball back to Jawad Jebrin, whose volley was held by Harker. Joe Riley also tested the shot stopper from range.
Rylands broke the deadlock in the 27th minute through Harrison Wood. The in-form forward capitalised on a defensive mistake, raced through on goal and calmly buried his finish beyond Harker and into the far corner.
Dean Furman then fired wide with Harker scrambling, before Stockton nearly levelled when Luke Pilling was caught in no man’s land. Clive Smith produced a brilliant clearance off the line to deny early substitute Jake Petitjean.
He was the first of two first-half substitutes due to a pair of unfortunate injuries, but the game took another major turn right on half-time when Costello was shown a straight red card for a handball on the line, leaving the Blues with ten men for the remainder of the match.
Stockton were awarded a penalty following the dismissal, and Frank Nouble sent Pilling the wrong way before finding the bottom-left corner to level the contest at the break.
Despite being down to ten, Rylands continued to create opportunities after the restart. Patrick Gamble headed wide from a corner, while Cameron Painter fired over and Petitjean failed to seriously test Pilling.
Billy Whaite provided Rylands with their best opportunity of the second half, picking up the ball from distance before unleashing a thunderous effort that cannoned back off the left upright.
Stockton pushed for a winner late on, with Nouble firing over in stoppage time before Whaite was caught just offside. Neither side could find a decisive second goal, leaving the points shared in a score draw.
Report by Jack Dowling.