It was a case of déjà vu for Leek Town on Saturday as they took on the current Pitching In Northern Premier league leaders Warrington Rylands and came away with a 2-0 defeat; the same scoreline as their previous, and only, two visits to their opponents.

But it was not for the want of trying, and the Blues can be encouraged by large parts of their performance, as they matched the table toppers in a game full of good quality football, and probably had the better of the second half.

The main difference between the two teams was the pace at which Rylands often moved the ball with a lot of one and two touch play to move the ball forward and also up front, where Leek lacked a decisive cutting edge compared to the home side, and when the Blues did get into good positions the final delivery into the box lacked the quality to trouble a well drilled Rylands defence.

Leek came into the game showing just the one change from last weeks victory over Bromsgrove Sporting in the FA Trophy with Jack Griffiths returning to the side with Jordan Hodkin dropping to the bench, and the Blues had better of the opening 15mins but failed to capitalise from this spell.

On 5mins a ball from Tom Curl found Lucas Weir in a pocket of space just outside the Rylands area and he was afforded the time to turn and line up a shot which was poor and dragged well wide when a better effort was required.

Weir had another opportunity after 8mins when the ball came back to him after Adam Porters shot had been well blocked following a neat Leek move down the right. This time Weir made a better connection but his shot whistled high and wide.

Warrington started to grow into the game and began to show what a good passing team they were, zipping the ball about on the damp surface to get the ball out wide quickly and whip in the crosses which Liam Edwards and Julius Ndene were doing well to meet and cut out.

The first effort on target came the way of the home side on 15mins when the ball was worked quickly to Harrison Wood who cut inside onto his left foot and fired in a low shot that Dino Visser was comfortably behind.

The Leek goalkeeper came to the rescue of his side a couple of minutes later with a great double save. A sublime pass with the outside of right foot in the gap between Liam Buckley and Liam Edwards was perfect for Alex Kiwomya to run onto and cut inside before unleashing a powerful shot that Visser did well get behind and parry away before recovering and saving from Ben Hardcastles follow up.

The opening goal came on 31mins and was just after Leek had looked as though they had curbed Warringtons momentum with a spell of possession that created two separate crossing opportunities that were wasted and easily dealt with by Patrick Gamble who always seemed to be well placed to avert any danger. A ball looking for Guy Hall on the Rylands left looked to be running out of play and Liam Buckley was content to allow it to do so, but the wide man was able to just about keep it in play at the last minute and, as a result, stole a march on Buckley to break free down the left. He played the ball into Kiwomya inside the area with his back to goal and he simply controlled and then teed up his strike partner George Waring to drive a right footed effort wide of Visser to make it 1-0

Leek looked to hit back with Alex Hurst attacking down the left and he delivered the Blues best cross of the half into the edge of the six yard box but Rylands keeper Luke Pilling was alert to the danger and dived low at the feet of Connor Heath to collect the ball before the Leek striker could get on the end of it.

A minute later and a ball down the Leek left found Weir onside. He advanced to the goal line and tried to pick out a yellow shirt only to find Gamble who cleared but only as far as Tom Curl. His pass found Hurst inside the area but he was quickly closed down resulting in his attempted shot taking a double deflection the second of which came off Weir resulting in a goal kick.

Curl was beginning to push on more from his full back position and won the Blues first corner of the game on 37mins with a bursting run into the area and his cross being slid out at the near post. The corner came to nothing as did another that was won on 42mins but Leek were showing they were certainly not out of the contest at 1-0 and, therefore, it was a real body blow when they conceded the second goal right on the stroke of half time.

It came down the Warrington left where Hall managed to outpace Buckley enough to be able to deliver a low ball across the area to find an unmarked Waring who finished first time sending the ball back across Visser and into the net to strengthen the home sides lead going into the break.

WARRINGTON RYLANDS 2 - LEEK TOWN 0 HT

Leek made a half time change withdrawing Buckley and bringing on Olly Haywood at left back with Curl switching over to the right as they faced the daunting task of trying to retrieve the game.

The Blues were enjoying a lot of possession but were falling short in being able to penetrate a well organised Rylands side. Heath produced a neat turn just outside the area on 55mins but was unable to find Griffiths running into the box with a pass whilst Porter produced a neat flick of the ball to avoid a challenge and spin round his man but just had too much on it with the ball running behind before he could reach it.

Rylands showed they could still be a threat on the break with Adam Caddick dragging a shot wide after 62mins as Leek continued to press forward.

A promising opportunity from a free kick after Griffiths had been unceremoniously brought down in his tracks by Hall was wasted with Weirs delivery easily caught by Pilling, before Griffiths was again stopped as he tried to dance into the area with the loose ball falling to Weir who’s shot was well blocked by a defender.

Although not creating anything clear cut the performance of Leek must have concerned the management team of Warrington enough as they made a defensive substitution withdrawing Wood and bringing on Scott Holding at the back.

Leek also made substitutions, replacing Heath and Porter with Louis Potts and Jordan Hodkin as they continued to push on.

Rylands nearly put the result beyond doubt when Jake Burton cut in from the left and curled a right footed effort just past the post with NDene and Haywood also producing two vital blocks in quick succession as the game approached the final ten minutes.

Leek were now throwing more bodies forward and the Rylands management team again responded by bringing two goal Waring back to reinforce the defence.

Griffiths had been playing more centrally since the Leek substitutions and was having more of a influence. He picked up a neat sideways header from Potts and immediately found Hodkin with a pass inside the area with his shot being deflected up and over the bar.

Then, on 84mins a Blues attack created space on the right for Curl to exploit and he burst into the area and lashed in a shot that flew across Pilling and smacked against the far post to deny what would have been a fine goal.

It would also have made the last five minutes plus stoppage time very interesting, but Rylands two goal lead remained intact and they were able to see the rest of the game through to retain their place at the top of the league.

WARRINGTON RYLANDS 2 - LEEK TOWN 0 FT

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Match Photos courtesy of Jim Booth HERE