A "FLAT and lethargic" Warrington Rylands were prevented from scoring for the first time in a league game since the opening day on Tuesday evening.

In a largely forgettable affair with little goalmouth action, Atherton Collieries left Gorsey Lane with a point after a goalless draw.

The result extends Rylands’ winless run in the Northern Premier League Premier Division to six matches.

"It was a really flat performance," caretaker manager Jody Banim said.

"It was flat in the warm-up and in the first half, we raised the tempo a bit for 15-20 minutes in the second half but they were happy to get behind the ball and wait for us to make a mistake.

"Overall, it’s a bit of a disappointing one – the performance was there on Saturday even if the result wasn’t but we didn’t hit those heights tonight.

"It was a really lethargic performance and I can’t really put my finger on it."

Read sports reporter Matt Turner’s match verdict here

FOR a team that hits the net as often as Warrington Rylands do, goalless draws are somewhat of a rarity.

They are usually able to carve out at least a few clear goalscoring opportunities but on this occasion, they were strangely subdued in the attacking third.

As such, the point Atherton Collieries were able to take away from Gorsey Lane was a deserved one in a game neither side can really claim they did enough to win.

That is not to say there were not moments – the visitors in particular may feel they should have done more with the promising positions they were able to get themselves into.

Whether from open play or from set pieces, their final ball was often found wanting and Joel Torrance went largely untested.

The same can be said of Nico Hansen at the other end as the usually dynamic duo of Kane Drumond and Callum Dolan had one of their quieter evenings.

Not many have been able to keep them quiet this year – indeed this was only the second time in the past 11 games that neither has been on the scoresheet – but credit has to go to an organised Colls rearguard.

In truth, Blues never really looked like opening them up – a second-half Dolan snapshot into the side netting the closest they really came.

With the defence having been cause for concern for Rylands in the main, the opposite was true on this occasion with Sam Egerton and Jordan Mustoe dealing with everything sent their way.

The clean sheet will please Jody Banim, but their winless run has now crept up to six games – a sequence they will have to arrest sooner rather than later.

Rylands: Torrance, Neild (Hayde), Hunt, Mustoe, Egerton, Furman, Dolan, Vassallo, Drummond, Cooke (Pratt), N'Mai (Irwin). Sub not used: Hayde