JODY Banim said he will not be tearing into his Warrington Rylands players after their poor showing in the weekend's 3-0 home defeat to Ashton United.

Two goals in four minutes in the final quarter led to Blues falling to their second home defeat in four outings, and not the performance they wanted going into Saturday's crunch 'derby' with Warrington Town at Gorsey Lane.

"It was just a very bad day at the office," said Banim.

"We lacked a lot of desire and work ethic.

"We didn't play well enough with the ball.

"Usually, we find space between the thirds a lot better and I think we went too direct which was meat and drink for their centre backs.

"And we didn't win enough second balls, so credit to Ashton as they absolutely worked their tripe off and deservedly won the game but from our perspective we were very poor."

Banim felt his side sorely missed Callum Dolan, who left to join Football League side Fleetwood Town in midweek.

"In the forward areas we looked light," he said.

"We huffed and puffed and probably missed Dolan's pace – someone that can stretch teams by running behind.

"We didn't really have that and the players in front had poor games, though I think everybody had a poor game.

"Our players didn't get close enough to theirs. They were throwing bodies on the line to block shots and we just didn't match that and that's so disappointing.

"With Bamber Bridge not playing on Saturday we could have gone fourth. To have that prize but face a team that's in transition seem to have more to play for than us was disappointing."

Jason Gilchrist was one of four new signings in the Ashton line-up and marked his debut with a double, having teamed up again with his Premier Division title-winning Buxton boss from last season, Steve Cunningham, who only took over the Ashton in the week leading up to the visit to Gorsey Lane.

Banim felt that the changes gave the entire Ashton squad a bounce about their play, turning around 4-0 and 6-0 defeats over the festive period.

With Rylands having won five of their previous seven games and going into the contest joint top with leaders South Shields in terms of form, such a disappointing showing was unexpected.

"We've been very good for the past seven games, so I'm not going to batter them but there are areas for us to work on and potentially look to move things about," said Banim.

Kyle Hayde's return from injury and performance off the bench was one of few positives from the game for Banim, who will also have key midfielder Jak McCourt available to face Warrington Town after a three-match suspension.

And James Neild is expected to come into the mix as well have been left out against Ashton in order to rest the ankle he rolled in the previous game at Marine.

"Kyle was playing so well before his injury so it's good to have him back and to given him some minutes," said Banim.

"I thought he made a difference when he came on with his energy, aggression, going forward as well.

"He looks to get wide and get crosses into the box for us and he's dogged defensively as well.

"Neildy rolled his ankle at Marine and we didn't want to risk it, especially as he pulled himself out of training halfway through on Thursday so we decided to rest him and get him ready for the Warrington Town game.

"If you'd have asked me how I was feeling about the Warrington Town game before the Ashton game it would have been a different answer to now.

"We've just got to pick ourselves up and I'm not going to batter the players because they've been very good for me but we've had an off day and that's what it's got to be.

"We've got to treat it as an off day and we've got to get our heads back on it.

"We didn't become a brilliant team overnight, we've not become a terrible team after one defeat. So we just have to pick ourselves up and go again.

"It's a massive game for us against Warrington Town because we've got ambitions of getting into the play-offs. It's the same for Warrington Town and it's a big occasion for the town.

"The first game between us was a really big occasion, one that I was very proud to be involved in, so hopefully we'll have more of the same on Saturday and this time we'll be able to see it over the line."