Harrogate Railway won't repeat mistake of looking too far ahead, insists Rob Youhill

The Starbeck outfit have kicked-off the new year with a pair of positive results, beating NCEL Division One leaders Wakefield AFC away from home before coming back from a goal down to draw 1-1 with fellow play-off hopefuls Dronfield Town on Saturday.

The men from Station View headed into their final fixtures of 2023 boosted by three consecutive victories during the month of November, a run of form which left them hopeful of breaking into the top five by Christmas.

But they lost three on the spin before signing off for the year with a goalless draw at Yorkshire Amateur, a mini-slump which joint-boss Rob Youhill puts down to his team taking their eye off the ball.

“We performed very well to beat Wombwell quite convincingly when they were top of the table and then went and produced a very different but equally pleasing display against Wakefield, who were sat in first place at the time,” he said.

“We’ve now showed on a number of occasions that we compete with and get results against any team in this league.

"We have such clever players. This is a young squad, but they are learning all the time and I feel they are just like sponges in the way that they have been absorbing the information we’ve been giving them.

“In December we had a bit of a wobble, and that month was certainly a learning curve for us. We won three in a row in November and I think that we got a bit ahead of ourselves.

"We were looking at how we could get ourselves back into the play-off places by Christmas, when really all that we should have been thinking about was our next game. So from now it just has to be about focusing on the next fixture in isolation, and if we do that then I am confident that we will keep progressing.”

Sam Clothier netted Railway’s equaliser against Dronfield at the weekend, popping up in the 85th minute to cancel out Callum Mawbey’s early opener.

Next up is a home clash with Selby Town this Saturday, 3pm kick-off.