Harrogate Railway go second in the table after recording eighth consecutive victory

Mick O'Connell's men followed up Saturday's hard-fought 2-1 success away at Selby with a comprehensive 4-1 home triumph over Dronfield Town on Tuesday evening, extending their unbeaten run into a 22nd game.

But, the Starbeck outfit did not have things all their own way and had to recover from falling behind to Joe Pearson's seventh-minute opener.

Jacob Robertson did however have the hosts back on terms less than 20 minutes later, with Dan Thirkell converting from the penalty spot early in the second period to move the Rail ahead.

Robertson's second of the night then put his side in control before Sean Hunter rounded off the scoring late on.

"Dronfield are a really competitive team and they always make it hard for you. They came out of the blocks fast and pressed us high and really aggressively.

"They're very good at what they do and we gave them a leg up into the game with a silly mistake, but I think that after that we controlled pretty much every aspect of the game.

"I thought that defensively we were good after that 20-minute period and second half we were brilliant.

"The young lads who came on were really effective and I just thought that from 1-16 we were brilliant.

"Eight wins, 22 unbeaten, we are really pleased, but we just want to win every game of football that we take part in. It’s just one big push now, there’s 10 games left and some really big matches to come.”

On Saturday, a Thirkell penalty and skipper Dan McDaid’s strike from distance proved sufficient for Railway to see off Selby after they fell behind shortly before half-time.

Next up for O’Connell and his men, who now sit six points behind leaders Campion but with a game in hand, is a home showdown with sixth-placed Horbury Town this Saturday, 3pm kick-off at Station View.

They then visit leaders Campion on Tuesday evening for a mouthwatering fixture that will likely go a long way to deciding the destination of the league title.