Harrogate Railway close to realising play-off ambition, but are hungry for more

Harrogate Railway require just two more points from their remaining four NCEL Division One fixtures to guarantee themselves a play-off spot, but will not settle for a top-five finish.
Josh Hardcastle in action for Harrogate Railway during Saturday's NCEL DIvision One success over Hall Road Rangers at Station View. Pictures: Gerard BinksJosh Hardcastle in action for Harrogate Railway during Saturday's NCEL DIvision One success over Hall Road Rangers at Station View. Pictures: Gerard Binks
Josh Hardcastle in action for Harrogate Railway during Saturday's NCEL DIvision One success over Hall Road Rangers at Station View. Pictures: Gerard Binks

The Starbeck outfit registered their seventh win in eight unbeaten matches when they beat Hall Road Rangers 2-0 on Saturday, consolidating third place in the table.

And while manager Mick O'Connell admits that just being in contention for promotion represents a "massive" achievement for a club that has spent the previous six seasons fighting relegation, he insists that both he and his players are determined to hang onto their current position.

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"We're one game closer now and we have just got to keep ticking them off," he told the Harrogate Advertiser.

Harrogate Railway manager Mick O'Connell.Harrogate Railway manager Mick O'Connell.
Harrogate Railway manager Mick O'Connell.

"To finish in a play-off spot would be massive for this club. If you look at the situation now compared to when we first came in here, it is like night and day.

"It's taken an awful lot of hard work and a lot of convincing people to do things differently, but we are starting to get our rewards now and are definitely on the right trajectory.

"Finishing in the play-offs is what we set out to do at the start of the season, and I know a lot of people thought we were being too ambitious. But, I knew what this group of lads were capable of, I knew how hard they would work, so I never doubted whether they would be in and around the top-five come April.

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"So, we are very close now to realising our aim, but we want more than that. We want third place to guarantee ourselves a home semi-final in the play-offs, and it's in our own hands, so we just have to keep our focus in each of our remaining fixtures."

While Railway are not yet guaranteed to finish in a play-off berth, the only they would miss out is if they failed to add two more points to their tally and sixth-placed Selby win every single one of their remaining five fixtures.

Indeed, if Selby fail to beat Ollerton Town on Tuesday evening, then O'Connell and his men know that the Robins cannot overtake them regardless of what else happens between now and the end of the campaign.

On Saturday, Railway were given a helping hand by Hall Road goalkeeper Aidan Smith, who punched a 58th-minute corner into his own net to break the deadlock.

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In-form striker Marcus Day then ran clean through on goal and finished calmly to wrap up the three points late on.

"We weren't at our best, but we've set very high standards this season and, if I'm being realistic, I can't expect the lads to hit those levels every single week," O'Connell added.

"They got in behind us from a couple of long balls in the first half, but other than that , they never really troubled us.

"The second half was an improvement. We'd missed one sitter in the first half and went on to create the better chances after the break.

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"We stepped up a gear and got the goals we needed. In the end, it's another fairly comfortable win and another clean-sheet and I don't think you can ever really ask for much more than that as a manager."

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