Macclesfield 2 Warrington Rylands 1, FA Cup third qualifying round

Blues lost 2-1 at fellow Northern Premier League Premier Division side Macclesfield in their first appearance in the third qualifying round.

Rylands led 1-0 at Leasing.com Stadium through Adama Sidibeh’s 24th-minute goal but the Silkmen replied four minutes later through Alex Curran, who then saw his 37th-minute penalty saved by Luke Pilling after Paul Dawson had been brought down in the box.

John Rooney hit a ferocious 25-yard winner for Macc in the 67th minute.

Adamah Sidibeh gives Rylands the lead (Image: Mark Percy)

Rylands manager Michael Clegg highlighted a little frustration afterwards, while also being proud of the performance and the previous league draw at the title favourites earlier this season.

“It was a good cup tie and everyone watching would have been happy with the money they’d spent,” said Clegg, whose side will return to action at Avro in the FA Trophy on Friday.

“A good goal separated the sides and sometimes that’s the way it goes.

“I don’t think that we held anything back. I think we’d come off the pitch and left everything out there. It just wasn’t our day.

“It was just a really tight game between two decent sides.

“I was disappointed in the manner in which we conceded the first goal. We were in an unbelievable position for another counter attack, we turned that down, and then the next minute it’s 1-1.

“I think that’s what’s really frustrating for us. And then their second goal was a bit of quality and that’s what you get from a player who has played at the level he has.

“I think we can hold our heads up high from the first game of the season to here. We’ve been unbelievable. Our little run has come to an end and now we’ll have to go again at Avro but it’s no disgrace coming to Macc and losing 2-1.”

James Baillie takes on Macclesfield's Alex Hurst (Image: Mark Percy)

He added: “The positive thing after the game was the fans. We probably wouldn’t have had that many at the first game of the season and that’s down to the players’ performances.

“What they do on the pitch galvanises the whole community and we really have done that, plus friends and family of every player were there.

“I think we can be proud of our 200 minutes we’ve played here and they know they’ve been in a game and I think that’s the biggest compliment they can pay to us.”

The Rylands players applaud their fans at full time (Image: Mark Percy)