DESPITE exiting the FA Cup in his first game in charge, Neil Reynolds insists he saw enough from his Warrington Rylands side to suggest a change in fortunes is close.

After his appointment to replace the departed Mark Duffy was confirmed on Thursday, the new manager was in the dugout for the first time as Blues took on Scarborough Athletic in the third qualifying round.

They had looked set to take their higher-ranked visitors to a replay, but Kieran Weledji broke the deadlock for the National League North side inside the final 20 minutes.

Weledji added a second late on as the Yorkshiremen advanced to Monday's fourth qualifying round draw.

For Rylands, attention turns back to climbing off the foot of the Northern Premier League Premier Division table as they host Mickleover on Tuesday night.

And Reynolds believes that if they show what they did on Saturday in midweek, they are in with a great chance.

Neil Reynolds took charge of Warrington Rylands for the first time on SaturdayNeil Reynolds took charge of Warrington Rylands for the first time on Saturday (Image: Mark Percy) “Firstly congratulations to Scarborough – after 75 minutes, they probably deserved the win,” he said.

“I thought we were outstanding – for only having 90 minutes with the lads on Thursday night, they gave a really good account of themselves.

“The challenge now is whether they can bring that against Mickleover and the other teams in our league. Their attitude was exemplary and the way we moved the ball was really good.

“I’ve got a lot of positives to take from today. I’ve seen enough today to know that we’re not too far away from getting some points on the board.

“It's hard coming into a club and you’ve just got the one training session before your first game, but we got a performance today which was pleasing.

“We’re not going to be able to get on the grass before Tuesday night, but I’ll be asking the lads to bring that and more.

“If we’re serious about getting out of trouble, we’ve got to go toe-to-toe with Mickleover.

“It won’t be an easy game but we’ve got to give a really good account of ourselves, get the fans behind us again and start climbing the table.”

Warrington Rylands: Pilling, Smith, Dwyer (Baillie), Regan, Neild, Furman, Hardcastle, Curran-Nicholls, Massanka (L Morris), Hough, Daniels (Burns). Subs not used: Hurst, Porter, J Morris, Amaral