LIFE after Jody Banim started in impressive style for Warrington Rylands.
They handed second-placed Hyde United a first loss of the year on their own turf, with Harry Pratt's first-half strike being the only goal of the game.
The result moves Rylands up two places to seventh, a point outside the Northern Premier League West play-off spots.
Rylands, led by senior players Dean Furman and Sam Egerton following Banim's resignation as manager on Monday, restricted the hosts to few chances and dented their title aspirations, while they were unlucky not to have added to their own tally.
Rylands dominated the opening exchanges and could have taken the lead on several occasions before making the breakthrough in the 22nd minute.
Dylan Vassallo had a shot blocked in the fifth minute leading to shouts for handball, while Pratt was off target with two shots from distance.
Hyde responded with Tom Pratt drawing a good save from Rylands goalkeeper Luke Pilling in the 19th minute before Blues opened the scoring.
Chasing a through ball, Kelly N’Mai was beaten to it by Hyde goalkeeper Dan Atherton but managed to block his attempted clearance, the ball spun off to Harry Pratt who, signed by Rylands from Hyde earlier in the season, shot into an empty net from 25 yards.
Rylands continued to dominate either side of the break going close to adding to their tally several times, with Atherton making amends for his blunder by saving well to deny N’Mai and Furman, while Vassallo struck the top of the crossbar just before half time.
Not having proved much of a threat to the Rylands goal for the first hour of the game the home side started to gain more control in the later stages as they pushed more men forward in search of an equaliser.
They were thwarted by a strong, well organised, hardworking defence which was backed up by an outstanding performance from goalkeeper Pilling, who pulled off several very good saves in the closing minutes to keep Hyde at bay.
Rylands: Pilling, Hayde, Hunt, Neild, Egerton, Hockenhull, Vassallo, Furman, H Pratt (Robinson), N’Mai (Okwute), Duxbury (Mustoe). Subs not used: Wright, Mantack.
Hyde: Atherton, Ditchfield, Fleming, Spooner, Fagbola, Roscoe, Mampala, Fearnley (O’Brien-Brady), Russ, Redshaw (Maieco – Perry), T Pratt. Subs not used: Tongue, Neavin.
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