Harrogate Railway don't realise just how good they could be, says manager Rob Youhill as losing run continues
Rob Youhill questioned whether his Harrogate Railway players realise how good they actually are after seeing them suffer a fourth successive defeat.
The Starbeck outfit have struggled for consistency so far this season and won just one of their last six matches in all competitions.
Saturday’s loss came at the hands of NCEL Division One leaders Horbury Town and leaves Railway 14th in the table, 11 points shy of the play-off places that their joint-manager was expecting them to be challenging for this term.
But Youhill is still certain that his young team has the ability to compete at the right end of the division.
"It is so frustrating,” he said. “I don’t think the players understand how good they are.
"There is real quality in this group, so many good young lads with a lot of potential. Yes, we have been missing our two most experienced players in Mike Morris and Gregg Anderson, but we should still have enough without them to be more consistent.
"Last season, we finished mid-table, and maybe punched above our weight because we came into it with a brand-new team that was really inexperienced at the level.
"This year, we want to build on that. Everyone is beating everyone else and I think most teams outside the bottom few will believe that if they can just put a bit of a run together then they can get into the play-off places – that’s how tight it is.
“I don’t see why we can’t be at least pushing for that. Last season, it was fair where we finished. This year, we are a better team, so if we don’t finish in the play-offs, we’ll only have ourselves to blame. We need to have more belief.”
Saturday’s 3-0 defeat to Horbury saw Billy Mole fire the visitors into a 36th-minute lead at Station View before second-half strikes from James Travis and Jack Leach ended any hopes of a Railway comeback.
On Friday, Youhill and Fraser Lancaster’s men travel to Ilkley for a 7.45pm kick-off.