Daisy Hill’s interest in the Buildbase FA Vase is over for another season after they fell to a 5-2 defeat at home to Warrington Rylands 1906 on Saturday.
An early goal from Daisy’s Matty Davison got them off to a good start, but the visitors hit back to lead 2-1 at the break, and ran in three more goals in the second half, two of them from the lively Kane Drummond who was a constant threat to the home defence over the course of the 90 minutes.
Tom Jackson pulled one back for Daisy late on to reduce the margin of defeat.
On a fine sunny afternoon at New Sirs, Daisy got off to a great start with the opening goal in the 5th minute, although it was one that Rylands defender Callum Lees would prefer to forget.
A mix up between the defender and his goalkeeper Graeme McCall allowed Matty Davison to nip in between the two to pinch the ball, round the keeper and roll it into the empty net to give Daisy the lead.
It was, however, a lead that only lasted for two minutes before Rylands bagged an equaliser, with a high ball to the back post from Adam Jones being met by a header from his fellow full back Thomas Freeman, who timed his run perfectly to get on the end of the cross.
The visitors always looked threatening with their ability to break quickly on the counter-attack, and they took the lead for the first time on 25 minutes.
It was a fin e piece of opportunism from Charlie Doyle, who blocked a clearance from Dean Singleton, and advanced forward before slotting the ball into the far corner of the net.
Daisy Hill’s hopes of getting back on level terms were dealt a blow in the space of a few minutes just before half time, when both Sam Howell and Dexter Brierley had to be replaced after picking up injuries.
The reshuffled home side were under the cosh in the opening stages of the second half, with Freddie Potter twice coming close for the visitors before they increased their lead just before the hour.
A mazy run by Kane Drummond was ended when he was brought down on the edge of the penalty area, and from the resulting free kick Drummond curled the ball over the defensive wall and into the net.
Four minutes later any hopes of a home revival were ending with a fourth goal for Rylands, when Freddie Potter steered a shot into the far corner from a Thomas McNamara cross.
Thirteen minutes from time, Potter turned provider when he set up Drummond for a tap in at the far post to make it 5-1, but to their credit Daisy kept going and were rewarded with the best goal of the afternoon in the 81st minute.
Tom Jackson gave the home support some cause for celebration, when he picked up a loose ball and curled a delightful 20 yarder past McCall in the Rylands goal to reduce the arrears.
Daisy Hill manager Brian Hart said:
“The two goals we scored were decent so that was pleasing, but kamikazie defending and some bad decision making when we were tiring cost us.
“Up until just before half time we were doing OK, but losing both Sam Howell and Dexter Brierley to injury affected us. It meant we had to reshape and we struggled to come to terms with that.
“It was disappointing that after getting off to a good start we conceded a soft goal almost straight away.
“In the second half it went away from us a little bit, and we have to accept we got caught a bit short. They are a decent team with some good players who deserved to win”.