Preview: Rylands vs Warrington Town

It's derby day tomorrow as Warrington Town travel to local rivals Rylands in the Northern Premier League.

The Yellows come into this Boxing Day fixture on the back of a battling 0-0 draw against league leaders Hednesford Town last Saturday.

Tomorrow's clash will be the first Warrington derby since January 2023, when Town emerged victorious in a dramatic 2-1 win at Gorsey Lane, with a second-half brace from Jordan Buckley securing all three points after falling behind within the first five minutes.

Below, we've compiled everything you need to know ahead of the clash.

Team news

Midfielder Matthew Tweedley returned to the squad as an unused substitute in Saturday's goalless draw against Hednesford.

There were no fresh injury concerns for Paul Carden following last Saturday's action.

Paul Carden preview

Article first published in the Warrington Guardian.

Despite being further down the table, is momentum in Warrington Town’s favour heading into the Boxing Day derby?

Manager Paul Carden certainly hopes so as he prepares to take his side north of the River Mersey to face Warrington Rylands having impressed in holding league leaders Hednesford Town on Saturday.

Yellows may be four places and eight points behind their neighbours in the Northern Premier League Premier Division table, but it is them who have been in the better form of late – albeit only marginally.

Their last five matches have yielded six points while Rylands have picked up just four in that time. Doubling the countback would provide a similar result – Town have picked up one point more from their last 10 matches (18) than their Christmas hosts.

While Town and Hednesford were playing out an entertaining but goalless draw in WA4, Rylands were falling to a 3-1 loss at Bamber Bridge, which no doubt raises the hopes of those in yellow that they may be catching their rivals at the right time.

However, Carden is clearly of a mind to distance himself from such theories, or indeed any of the pre-match hype that has swelled around both fanbases.

Instead, he has called upon his players to repeat the “single-mindedness” they showed at the weekend in order to take something home from Gorsey Lane.

“I said after the game on Saturday that we have to show the same mentality as we did on Saturday,” he said.

“Hednesford weren’t beating us but if they were, it was going to be through something special – we went toe-to-toe with them and took them on.

“Ultimately, it doesn’t matter who we play and where we play – we’ve got to have that mentality, mindset and determination from one to 11, which we had on Saturday.

“With it being Rylands away, there’s various things on the game but it would be the same whoever we were playing.

“We’ve got to have that single-mindedness to get the points and that’s what is crucial.”

Match information

Friday's Northern Premier League fixture at Gorsey Lane kicks off at 3pm.

Tickets for the fixture have sold out.

There will be no live Yellows Radio commentary for tomorrow's clash; instead, supporters are encouraged to follow live updates from the game via our X (Twitter) feed.