THEY may have gone out of the FA Cup at the hands of professional opposition but above all, Warrington Rylands boss Dave McNabb felt proud of his side.
National League North side York City were 1-0 victors at Gorsey Lane in a second qualifying round tie streamed live on the BBC Sport website yesterday.
For much of the game, however, Rylands made light of the three-division gap between the sides.
Andy Scarisbrick – scorer of the winning penalty in the shoot-out win over Whitby Town that set this tie up – saw a spot kick hit the woodwork as a golden chance to equalise was passed up.
However, McNabb attached no blame on his midfielder.
“Andy’s no more disappointed than anybody else with what happened,” he said.
“It doesn’t matter whether he missed a penalty or not, what matters is we are a group and a collective.
“We win together and lose together.
“We’re obviously disappointed to go out and we’re disappointed to lose any game, but the overarching emotion is pride.
“I’m a little disappointed that we didn’t get a goal because we deserved to at least take it to penalties, but it wasn’t to be.
“Fair play to York – they were really professional in their approach. They closed the game out really well and managed our dangerous players well.
“We said to the lads before the game that all we needed from them was 110 per cent and we would see what happens.
“When you come up against a side that are favourites for the National League North, the difference in levels is huge but we made it look like it wasn’t.
“All credit to the players, I can’t believe how proud I am of them and the club as a whole for managing to get this game on with the restrictions in place.
“It’s unfortunate the way it ended but a fantastic day for the club.”
Now, they move onto the long-awaited start of their North West Counties League Premier Division campaign.
Their opening fixture sees them travel to Northwich Victoria on Wednesday and represents a chance to move on quickly.
“It’s difficult losing any game but losing one of this magnitude was hard to take,” midfielder Charlie Doyle said.
“We’ve got to get back to our bread and butter now, pick ourselves up again and try to win the league.
“We’re absolutely devastated. It’s gutting to lose any game but it was a massive occasion for the club.
“In the first half, they kept the ball well but we had two or three good chances.
“It was disappointing to go into half time having not scored and even more heartbreaking that we didn’t in the second half because I do think we deserved to.
“They are three divisions higher but at times, we matched them comfortably. It didn’t seem like there was such a gap.”
All pictures by Mark Percy
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