Harrogate Railway beat Crowle Colts in thrilling fashion, but need to improve their defensive game, insists Rob Youhill

That was the view of manager Rob Youhill following Saturday’s thrilling 4-3 success over Crowle Colts, a see-saw encounter, which could have gone either way.

In the end, the Starbeck outfit got their rewards for another gutsy attacking performance as they registered a sixth consecutive NCEL Division One win to consolidate second place in the table.

And while he said he thoroughly enjoyed seeing his players recover from 2-1 and 3-2 down to come out on top, boss Youhill admitted that Railway need to play with a bit more control, and improve their work out of possession.

"Winning games like we did on Saturday is so enjoyable, so the players were buzzing in the changing room afterwards – and fair play, they deserved their win and deserved to enjoy it,” Youhill said.

"I love the energy that we’ve got, and I love that we try to run over teams. But, I'd like the games to be less like basketball games, because we can get so stretched.

"We are playing some good teams in the next few weeks and we can’t be that open, so we will have a conversation about that, and how we can build from the back.

"We had so many clean-sheets at the start of the season, and we’ve gone away from that a little bit because we are so on the front foot and are creating lots of chances.

"We just need to get a little bit better at shutting up shop. And I don’t mean just the back four and the goalkeeper, I mean collectively.”

Railway took the lead at Station View with just eight minutes on the clock when captain Sam Drake smashed a strike into the top corner.

Declan Bacon equalised for Crowle in the 36th minute, then Rob Guilfoyle converted from the penalty spot just before half-time to turn the game on its head.

Harry Lee got the hosts back on terms early in the second period, shooting through a crowd of bodies after Alex Burton had hit the cross-bar from a corner kick.

But Crowle hit back almost immediately and went 3-2 up in the 58th minute through Bacon.

Undeterred, Railway were level within five minutes. Substitute Ollie Holt weaved his way past a defender before crossing for Harry Lynn to side foot home inside the six-yard box.

And the home side then went on to bag a winner on 79 minutes through Burton, who was adjudged to have got the final touch after Lee’s long throw-in caused havoc inside the Crowle penalty area.

Victory leaves the Rail four points behind leaders Dearne & District, however they still hold two games in hand.