WHILE most semi-professional footballers are now looking towards next season, Warrington Rylands are about to be thrust back into action.

Their North West Counties League campaign has been officially curtailed, but Blues’ FA Vase exploits mean they are set to return next month.

The Football Association have confirmed it is their intention to resume fixtures in the Vase – the knockout competition for clubs at Steps Five and Six of the National League System – as soon as possible.

Rylands had reached the last 32 and were due to travel to County Durham side Shildon for their next tie before the current lockdown was enforced.

“Even just planning sessions again, it feels like a little bit of normality is coming back,” manager Dave McNabb said.

“From our calculations, it looks as though we’ll be playing on April 10.

“We’ve been told to be ready to play by early April, so we will be ready for the 3rd.

“With it being an FA competition, I did think the Vase was going to be prioritised in terms of being brought back.

“I did doubt it while there was no real date for coming out of this lockdown but as it went on, I got more and more hopeful.”

Blues’ return to training will need to be Covid-compliant – from next week, the coaches will host one-to-one sessions with players before returning to full training from March 29.

“We’re going to split the pitch up into six large sections so we can do one-to-one training that’s fully compliant,” McNabb said.

“It will be very time-consuming but we did something similar over the summer and it worked very well.

“This weekend, we got the players on programmes for doing runs so that they’re ready.

“There’s plenty that are already doing that – Gaz Kenny is doing 10k a day for his charity challenge, Freddie Potter and Cal Spencer are doing challenges as well.

“Some players are always going to be fit but there are others who just need that little push.”

McNabb has overseen the club’s joint-best run in the competition, matching the achievements of the 1983-84 season.

Having beaten Daisy Hill, Goole, Padiham, Jarrow and Longridge Town already, hopes are increasing that their run could end in a Wembley final.

“I think with everything going on, you allow yourself to get a bit carried away,” McNabb said.

“It’s easy to think of maybe being at Wembley and giving yourself something to look forward to.

“We’ve got to keep our feet on the ground, though. Now we’re in the last 32 there are some seriously good teams still in there with us.

“Just look at the Jarrow game – we were in control and should be 3-0 up at half time, we then score and all of a sudden, we’re hanging on and we need penalties to win.

“I’d back us to beat anyone at our level in the country, but it’s knockout football. Anything can happen on any given day.”

McNabb confirmed every member of his existing squad remains available to him, although the club are still waiting for news of a potential suspension for forward Kane Drummond, who was sent off in their third-round victory over Longridge Town.

With hundreds of players from their level and those above now searching for action after league campaigns were curtailed, the possibility of recruiting to aid their Vase challenge appears tempting.

However, the Blues boss is aiming to keep that to a minimum and instead reward the players who have got them this far.

“I think we won’t look to bring players in to start games.

“If we got injuries – like if one of the keepers goes down or a centre-back as we only have three of those – we may look at it.

“It may well be at the FA put something out about only being able to sign on a certain amount of new players, but we’re yet to hear anything on that yet.

“As it is though, the players who have performed so well for us deserve the reward of trying to get us as far as possible.”