Harrogate Railway boss Rob Youhill satisfied with a point at Worsbrough Bridge Athletic, but felt all three were attainable
Harrogate Railway boss Rob Youhill said he was satisfied with a point from Saturday's top-of-the-table clash with Worsbrough Bridge Athletic, but felt his side could have taken all three.
The Starbeck outfit recovered from being 3-1 down at half-time to draw 3-3 with their NCEL Division One promotion rivals thanks to Alex Burton's stoppage-time equaliser.
And although he admits that he would have taken a draw before kick-off because of the amount of players he had missing on the day, the Rail chief believes the game was there for the taking in the second period.
"Saturday was a real challenge because we had so many players missing due to injury, illness and unavailability," Youhill said.
"It was always going to be a really tough ask anyway. Worsbrough is not an easy place to go and this was probably our biggest fixture of the season to date, a genuine six-pointer.
"They were playing down the hill in the first half, which they are very good at, and although I felt we could have defended better for their goals, I wasn't actually that unhappy with it being 3-1 at half-time.
"I said to the lads that I knew we could win the second half 3-0. I backed them 100 percent to do that, and I think that we should have done. Even when we equalised in the 91st minute, I wasn't that excited, I just wanted us to get the ball back and try and get another goal because there were three minutes left.
"With the amount of players we had missing, I probably would have taken a point before kick-off, and in fairness a draw was probably a fair result, but I do think we could have won it."
Railway fell behind after just six minutes of Saturday’s contest, and Josh Brown’s early opener was then followed up by Keelan Grist.
Dominic Creamer pulled one back for the visitors just before the half-hour, but Lloyd Smith restored Worsbrough’s two-goal cushion late in the first period.
Sam Drake netted on 75 minutes to reward Youhill and Fraser Lancaster’s men for an improved second-half showing, though it took until the 91st minute for leading marksman Alex Burton to get them back on terms.
A draw keeps the Rail second in the table, where they sit a point ahead of Worsbrough and six behind leaders Dearne & District, but with two games in hand.
They return to action this Saturday afternoon when they travel to fifth-placed Leeds UFCA (3pm).