Atherton Colls bounced back from Saturday’s woes in style with an emphatic 2-0 NPL Premier Division victory against Warrington Rylands - a team that had won back-to-back games, keeping clean sheets in both.

A spirited Colls display stopped that run - a performance that started with tenacity from the first minute right up until the very last.

The first half was dominated by Colls and a strong, aggressive start set the precedent for what followed.

From winning the duels and restricting the opponents to next to nothing, a flurry of chances came from the 25th minute onwards.

Scott Bakkor gave the Rylands keeper, Luke Pilling, his first task of the evening, from a free-kick about 20 yards out. The ball was whipped over the wall and forced a smart stop from the keeper to turn it round the post, the subsequent corner headed just wide by Adam Rooney.

The dominance from set-pieces was a theme of the first half. Skipper Danny Lafferty had a header saved before Luca Defreitas-Hansen won his aerial battle and the loose ball fell at his feet before his strong effort was blocked by the Rylands defence.

Pilling was once again called into action before the first half ended as Bailey Thompson rose highest of all and his header was saved by the scrambling goalkeeper.

The pressure continued early in the second half as two chances fell to Ben Hardcastle. The first was a shot from the edge of the area fired just wide, the second was a tackle in the penalty area that found itself hitting the underside of the bar onto the goalline before being eventually gathered by Pilling.

The deadlock was eventually broken by Adam Rooney - his first goal at the Skuna Stadium for Colls. The constant set-piece threat finally paid dividends when Jack Lenehan’s dead ball was fired into the box, Rooney found himself in an acre of space and deftly nodded the ball inside the far post.

The result was sealed after substitute Jay Fitzmartin’s relentless pressure was duly rewarded. He managed to tackle Pilling after he attempted to dribble the ball out of his own penalty area leaving Fitzmartin with the easiest of tap-ins after loitering on the goalline.

It was an excellent performance all round, the 2-0 win lifting Colls up to 15th in the table.

Attention now turns to tomorrow’s monster clash on the east coast at Morpeth when Brad Cooke’s team will be looking to build on this performance and earn another three crucial points.