DAVE McNabb says Warrington Rylands’ FA Vase win over Longridge Town showed how much his squad are willing to fight for each other and for the club.

Blues were reduced to 10 men in the early stages when Kane Drummond was dismissed for foul and abusive language.

The same player had given them the lead inside the first minute and Ste Milne doubled their lead before the break.

After Paul Turner reduced the deficit on the hour mark, Blues had to withstand heavy pressure from their visitors but held on to put themselves four wins away from a trip to Wembley Stadium.

> Blues 2 Longridge 1 – the story of a dramatic afternoon at Gorsey Lane

“It was one of the toughest games we’ve had to play this season in terms of what the players have had to put into it,” McNabb said.

“We had a brilliant start and we looked really comfortable. Our shape looked good, we were keeping the ball well and we were finding spaces in behind them.

“And then we were down to 10 men after about eight minutes. The decision is what it is – we’ll deal with that internally – but I can’t fault the lads.

“They’ve shown so much character and determination to fight for this club. I think we deserved it on the balance of play in terms of what the lads put back into the game.

“We’ve had to adapt a little bit – we had to sit in a little bit more rather than press, which is what we wanted to do from the start.

“We changed the way we played a little bit but in the first half, we looked like scoring again if anything.

“The second half was backs-to-the-wall but our quality in possession was probably better than Longridge’s.”

Drummond and Longridge midfielder Ben Fletcher came together after the former had been fouled but despite no violent conduct appearing to occur, referee Shaun Taylor flashed the red card in Drummond’s direction.

“It’s a word that Kane’s used that the referee has taken a dislike to,” McNabb said.

“We’ll have to look into that and deal with it internally as a club. It’ll go into the FA and we’ll see what comes of it.”