Harrogate Railway weren't as bad as scoreline suggests during defeat at Rossington Main

Four consecutive victories lifted the Starbeck club up to fifth in NCEL Division One, however they missed the opportunity to leapfrog the side directly above them in the table when they lost out by a 3-0 scoreline.

Yet, disappointed though he was by the outcome of the match, Rail boss Mick O'Connell doesn't believe his players performed as badly as the result suggests.

"Rossington were the better team on the day, I can't deny that. They took their chances, so fair play to them," he reflected.

"They probably played with a bit more energy than we did, but the scoreline doesn't really reflect how the game went.

"Are they a better side than us? I don't really think there was a lot in it at all, just a couple of bits of absolutely criminal defending by us at set-pieces.

"Their manager said to me afterwards that we are the best team they've played all season. He said they knew they'd been in a game.

"So, although I am obviously disappointed by the result and the two poor goals we conceded, I can still take a lot of positives from Saturday because of the overall display."

Railway fell behind early on, then conceded a second shortly before half-time, much to O'Connell's annoyance.

"The first goal is awful defending on our part. At 1-0 down we just needed to get to half-time so we could re-group," he added.

"But then we go and concede from another set-piece just before the break and that leaves us with a lot to do.

"Even then, we are denied a stonewall penalty when their defender scoops the ball up with his hand and if the referee gives that and we score, I think the tide turns.

"We hit the bar five minutes later, so we were right in the game still, but just didn't do enough and they nicked a third late on."