A cup final hang over seemed to have influenced a below Whaley performance today but taking nothing away from a resilient Rylands defensive display.

Whaley could have secured the win within the first half hour but for some poor finishing, the cross bar & and a solid performance from Yarwood in goal for Rylands.

The first half ‘action’ saw Sam Leadbetter breaking free down the left but with nobody on the end of his cross an open goal went begging; Joe Burgess turned and had his shot deflected on to the cross bar, Joe Armstrong headed over from just under the bar, Lee Morris & Adam Barlow both had shots that went just wide.

Although not really creating any chances Kris Bell & Jimmy Daniels for the home side were busy up-front demonstrating how to close down a back four.

The second half was very much a stale mate as Jimmy Sinker led by example in the heart of Rylands defence with teammate Jonny Dawson running the central midfield area. In the end it took a mistake to separate the two sides; a poor square pass along Whaley’s back four put Bell in with enough momentum to pass Newton & Armstrong and then to slot past an advancing Tattersall to get the all important goal. No matter what Whaley threw at Rylands they couldn’t generate a clear enough opportunity to level the scores.

A flat performance that could prove costly!

J Tattersall; J Gregory; R Newton (c); J Armstrong; J Gemmill; J Burgess; A Barlow; B Sutton; L Morris; S Leadbetter; T Scorer

J Drayson; J Bailey; J Kelly; J Broome