TOURAY WINS IT SO BLUES BREATHE!
MOMODOU Touray’s seventh league goal of the season saw Warrington Rylands take advantage of Radcliffe’s FA Trophy commitments, cutting their lead atop the NPL table to three points at home against playoff hopefuls Whitby Town.
This result also marks their first win since beating the division’s leaders away in mid-December, snapping a four-game stint without victory featuring a trio of draws.
There was little to excite the crowd on a cold January afternoon at The Hive Arena, besides Whitby midfielder Coleby Shepherd doing well to head clear Matt Regan’s overhead kick off the goalline after Javid Swaby-Neavin’s long throw.
Both sides traded shots off target until Rylands broke the deadlock four minutes before half-time, Clive Smith drilling a low cross into the area for Touray to cleverly clip over onrushing goalkeeper Shane Bland - Priestley Keithley’s last-ditch efforts were in vain.
The Blues began the second-half brightly in search of a second, Bland recovering well and quickly to deny Djavan Pedro’s goalbound header from doubling arrears.
That slender lead gave the visitors more chance to restore parity and they were awarded an opportunity to equalise from the penalty spot with 20 minutes to play.
Centre-back Harrison Beeden went down in the area and you could sense a potential momentum shift coming, after Rylands frantically struggled to clear their lines.
Jacob Gratton drove his spotkick low to Luke Pilling’s right, but the Wales youth international produced a fantastic stop denying him and wasn’t finished there: a spectacular flying save kept out Gratton five minutes later, before thwarting Bradley Fewster too.
Rylands held firm defensively, repelling their visitors’ attacks as they repeatedly launched high balls into the box without reward.
After securing their first win of the new year, Blues boss Michael Clegg was naturally pleased.
“I loved it, a scrappy game but we have been in really good form. We tried a different shape today, made us defensively very sound,” he told The NLP. STAR MAN: Matt Regan (Warrington Rylands) ENTERTAINMENT: ★★★☆☆