Mo Touray form key to Warrington Rylands' play-off bid

As they close in on booking their spot, however, one player in particular has moved ominously into form.

Forward Mo Touray has been at the forefront of Blues’ excellent form of late – since senior players Sam Wilson and Dean Furman took interim charge of the team, he has scored six times in eight matches with the latest being the crucial opening goal in Saturday’s 2-0 win at Guiseley.

Indeed, his form has got better and better since the turn of the year - he has netted nine times in 15 appearances in 2024 having scored just twice in the 12 games he played before the new year arrived.

That run has taken him to 16 goals for the season – beyond the tally managed by his old strike partner Adama Sidibeh before his move to Scottish Premiership side St Johnstone in February.

So have Wilson and Furman changed anything to unlock another level in the in-form frontman?

“Speaking quite honestly, we’ve put big demands on Mo,” Wilson told the Guardian.

“He knows what we think of him – I’m probably not helping myself by saying this but I don’t think he belongs at this level because he’s an exceptional player.

“I think at the time we took the job, his numbers could and perhaps should have been better for a player of his standard, so we encouraged him to break forward a little bit more and not just play the supporting act through all the good work he does until that point.

“He’s really bought into it and a special mention goes to Mark Duffy, who has been and still is an exceptional player in that area and has done a lot of work with him.

“I’m pleased for Mo but I’m pleased for the team as well because we’re scoring a lot of team goals at the moment.

“There will have been a suggestion – an understandable one – that we were a little over-reliant on Adama at certain stages of the season, but we feel like we’re a real threat in that final third now.”

Mo Touray now has 16 goals in 37 appearances for Rylands this term (Image: Mark Percy)

With three games of the season remaining, Blues know they need only win one of those if they are to extend the campaign by at least another game.

Their first chance comes on Saturday as they welcome Lancaster City – a side who must win and hope other results go their way to keep their own play-off hopes alive – to Gorsey Lane.

Regardless of what results may or may not mean, however, Wilson insists there will be no let-up from the Rylands squad in their final three games.

“Our job’s not done,” he said.

“Of course, we want to get in the play-offs but there’s three important games remaining first before we get to anything beyond that.

“We have a record we want to hold onto and we also have a points target we want to get to internally.

“We’ve got to show the utmost respect to our opponents and we won’t be letting up.”