Warrington Town manager on Warrington Rylands draw

Yellows were 2-0 down at half time after a dominant showing by their visitors and despite a vast improvement after the break, they still trailed 3-1 heading into the final 10 minutes.

However, Luke Duffy pulled a goal back before Mitch Duggan’s cross was turned into his own net by Rylands defender James Neild to rescue a point in injury time.

> Town 3 Rylands 3 - full verdict and post-match reaction

The celebrations that followed Town's injury-time equaliser. Picture by Sean Walsh (Image: Sean Walsh)

After being unable to register a replacement goalkeeper following loanee Sam Tickle’s recall to parent club Wigan Athletic, Rylands were forced to field midfielder Steve Irwin in goal for the entire game.

> The full story of Rylands' derby day goalkeeping issues here

With that in mind, Beesley admits that for much of the game, they did not do enough to test out the makeshift stopper.

However, he believes his side’s improvement after the interval meant a share of the spoils was merited.

“There wasn’t much in the first half an hour – it was a typical derby game with two teams feeling each other out.

“They weren’t troubling us and we weren’t troubling them – which is disappointing for us – but the two goals before half time put us under pressure.

“We had a wobble but in the second half, we had a real go and ended up scoring three. We deservedly scored three and could have maybe scored a couple more.

“Without a wonder goal from Kane Drummond, we probably win the game.

“We probably didn’t do enough to trouble the keeper but then again, we ended up scoring three so maybe we did.

“If you’re a good team, sometimes your goalkeeper doesn’t have much to do – we’ve seen that with Tony (Thompson) on occasion this season.

“They’re a good team – they defend well, they’ve got experience in the middle of the field and serious pace in attack.

“I want to give our lads a bit of credit for coming back. At 2-0 down it could have gone worse but we stayed in the game.”

News of Rylands’ goalkeeping issues became clear when teamsheets were submitted 45 minutes from kick off.

However, Beesley says he stressed to his players that the news could not be allowed to affect their mindset although they were forced onto the back foot by Rylands’ vibrant first-half display.

Town made a double substitution at half time, with Duggan and Isaac Buckley-Ricketts brought on while Duffy was introduced midway through the second half.

The Yellows boss was delighted with the impact made by all three players, with Duggan and Duffy playing direct roles in goals and Buckley-Ricketts a threat on the right wing.

Luke Duffy was impressive off the bench for Town. Picture by Lewis Tate (Image: Lewis Tate)

“We needed to up the tempo – we changed one or two things to get a bit more pace in the team and have a little bit more “go” about us high up the pitch,” he said.

“The midfield was too deep and we needed to get higher and dominate the game.

“We controlled the game a lot more in the second half – the two in front of the back four were able to tick us over and feed the wide players which we couldn’t do in the second half.

“The three subs made a big difference. Luke has scored, Mitch has set up the equaliser and Isaac has been a threat.

“We’ve got a small squad but a good squad and that shows the competition for places we have.”

On Rylands’ goalkeeper news, he said: “We couldn’t let it affect us, otherwise you start shooting from stupid positions and doing things that aren’t normal.

“Even at times in the second half, we were trying to get the perfect ball into the box as opposed to making him do something.

“As the game wore on, we did that and in my opinion, we deserved a draw.”

The result keeps Town in 12th place in the Northern Premier League Premier Division having gained four points from two home games this week.

Attention now turns to the FA Trophy on Saturday with a trip to Hebburn Town and Beesley insists his side need to kick on.

“My assessment is that we’re doing okay, but okay isn’t good enough. We need to push on,” he said.

“We’ve stopped the rot a little bit and got four points from our last two tough games against teams up there around the top five.

“It’s a good total but we need to step up and go again. We need to be winning more games.

“We need to start somewhere and I think if you’d have asked me after the Bamber Bridge game if I’d have taken four points from the next two, I would have.

“The two performances have been very different. We needed this little boost if you like – it’s a start but that’s all it is.”