Harrogate Railway's impressive victory at Selby Town was 'quite a few weeks in the making'

Having been unhappy with the start that their side made to their 2024/25 NCEL Division One campaign, Youhill and joint-boss Fraser Lancaster decided to press the reset button in late October, in a bid to get the Starbeck moving up the table.

Stuck in the middle third of the league as a result of their inability to deliver either performances or results on a consistent basis, Railway’s management team shuffled their pack, allowing six players to leave Station View, while three new faces arrived.

They also made some tactical readjustments, and Youhill feels that his team have been playing better of late, without managing to win any of their previous three matches.

He was however confident that a victory was only around the corner having been much happier with the football he had seen throughout November.

"Saturday's performance has been quite a few weeks in the making," Youhill said. "Obviously we had a bit of a reset not so long ago, we let six players go and brought three new ones in and essentially cleaned shop.

"There were a few meetings where we had conversations with the players and looked to refresh and refocus and just be really clear about our expectations in terms of how we want to play.

"I think a result like beating a side like Selby, who are in and around the play-offs, is an indication of how far we have come. We have been playing well in a lot of games and looking really sharp in training, so I think this kind of display and score-line have been coming.

"We drew 0-0 at Maltby, which I felt was a great result, then the snow came at a bad time, but we have followed that result up with this one and so I think I can safely say what I have been avoiding saying, and that is that we have now turned the corner.

"On Saturday, everyone was evidently very clear about their roles and about exactly what they needed to do and everything that we have been working on just came together.”

Leading marksman Sam Clothier opened the scoring for Railway on nine minutes, before an own goal made it 2-0 at the interval. Ezio de Santis’ 62nd-minute strike then wrapped things up.

"The plan was just to get the ball wide as quickly as possible," Youhill added. "We knew that with the ball-players we have in those areas that we would be able to cause Selby problems, and that's how it played out."

This Saturday, Railway, who remain 13th in the table, entertain 16th-placed Shelley (3pm).