Rylands boss lauds Macclesfield star after match-winning performance

Rylands came into Monday's hotly-anticipated fixture looking to close the four-point gap to Northern Premier League leaders Radcliffe, whose trip to FC United of Manchester 48 hours earlier was postponed due to a waterlogged pitch at Broadhurst Park.

Goals either side of half-time from James Neild and top scorer Adama Sidibeh saw the Blues come from two goals down in front of a season-high home crowd of 1,148.

However, it wouldn't be enough to merit a point as Rooney - younger brother of former Manchester United and England legend Wayne - completed his treble 20 minutes from time to help Alex Bruce's side demonstrate their promotion credentials.

When assessing the performance of his side post-match, Clegg praised his players and acknowledged the quality of the opposition match-winner.

"When we put a team on the pitch, all we ask for is everything, so it’s hard to be disappointed," he said.

"We’ve been beaten by an unbelievable number 10 at this level, who has got himself a hat-trick with a couple of great finishes that I’m not sure anybody else at our level is capable of doing.

"I thought we matched them and did really well to get ourselves back in the game.

"We got on the other side of one of these games the other week against Radcliffe, but today we were on the wrong side.

"It’s so tight with the teams at the top, and for us to be rubbing our shoulders with those kind of teams is great.

"But we’ve got to start nailing it down if we want to be serious about this [challenging for promotion].

"I’m proud of them again. I’m squeezing everything out of them, and I can’t ask for much more."

Clegg's Blues will have the chance to return to winning ways on Saturday with a trip to Ashton United.

With five wins and six draws away from home this season, Rylands are the only team in the division yet to have tasted defeat on the road.

Photo credit: Warrington Rylands