HAVING fought back from two goals down to draw last weekend, the shoe was on the other foot for Warrington Rylands on Saturday afternoon.

And manager Michael Clegg admits the fact Basford United were able to earn a 2-2 draw left him “upset and hurt.”

Blues were in control in Nottinghamshire having gone 2-0 up, with Mo Touray’s penalty on the stroke of half time giving them a lead that was doubled by Joe Adams midway through the second half.

Warrington Guardian: Joe Adams prepares to score Rylands' second at BasfordJoe Adams prepares to score Rylands' second at Basford (Image: Mark Percy)

However, the hosts struck twice in five minutes to rescue a point, with Prince Mancinelli levelling after Mason Frizelle had pulled a goal back.

While Clegg was happy with his side’s overall display, he labelled the goals they conceded “absolutely criminal.”

“I just didn’t see it coming,” he said.

“It’s a game we’ve controlled – we created some really good moments and we should have been out of sight.

“It’s probably the first time this season that we’ve had a five-minute wobble and they’ve scored two goals.

“We’ve then dominated the last 10 minutes and could have had a winner ourselves.

“It’s difficult to take, I’m not going to lie.

“We’ve won once since the Radcliffe game, which is worrying and we need to find a way of getting on the other side of these draws.

“It’s two points dropped again today – at 2-0 up after 70 minutes it looked like we’d go on to score three or four.

“I’m upset and hurt with that today – you can defend lads for so long and on the whole, we’ve defended brilliantly this season but the two goals we’ve given away are absolutely criminal. That five minutes was unacceptable.”

While Blues remain second in the Northern Premier League Premier Division table, more dropped points has allowed sides below them to close the gap.

Marine and Hyde United are both now two points behind the Gorsey Lane men, with Worksop Town and Macclesfield a further four points back with both having games in hand.

“We were good today and it’s the best we’ve played in a long time, but we’ve got to start getting three points again,” said Clegg, who gave a debut to left-back Liam Brockbank after the left-back joined on loan from Altrincham earlier today.

“The gap behind us is closing and it’s probably a more reflective sign of where we are as a team anyway, but we need to get back at it.

“There were some positive signs today, but it’s two points dropped.”

Warrington Rylands: Pilling, Smith, Brockbank, Butler, Regan (Egerton), Furman, Adams (Cockerline), Neild, Sidibeh, Touray, Baillie. Subs not used: German, Hough, Swaby-Neavin