MATCH PREVIEW: Reds seek elusive win

Reds face a quiet, almost relaxing December and will complete 2024 with just three more matches.

But those three games fall into the difficult category with Saturday’s trip to Warrington Rylands followed by tough assignments at Lancaster City then the Boxing Day clash at home to Morpeth Town.

This time last year, Reds were overworked in December, playing six games, and they were busy last month and will be in the New Year too.

The easier workload is due to the postponement of the Blyth Spartans match amid Storm Darragh last week.  That fixture, incidentally, will now be played on Saturday 8 March.

Now the team have to pick-up from where they left off, before and after the Macclesfield game, when a decent spell produced two wins, a draw and defeats against Gainsborough Trinity and the league leaders. 

But in five meetings against Rylands, now managed by Neil Reynolds, Reds have still to taste victory.  All previous encounters have been closely fought with all three home games resulting in a draw and the two matches at Gorsey Lane culminating in narrow wins for the hosts. 

Rylands return to league action on the back of a good showing in the FA Trophy which included an excellent win at Scunthorpe United last month.  They made their exit last week at Chorley, losing by the odd goal in five.

They have only played eighteen league matches, due to their Trophy run, and have averaged a point per game so far.

The September clash in Cumbria finished all square with Steven Swinglehurst’s close range goal cancelled by Ntumba Massanka’s well taken effort a quarter of an hour later.

Mark Fell has seen the lengthy injury list gradually reduce in recent weeks but insists players won’t be rushed back too early.

With our previous two trips to Gorsey Lane played in mid-week, more Reds fans might be tempted to travel on Saturday.

Admission: Adult – £10, Concession – £7, U16s – £2

Postcode: WA2 7RZ

Kick-off: 3pm