Harrogate Town captain Josh Falkingham 'on top of the world'

The 29-year-old recently celebrated the birth of his first child before making a winning return to action in front of live BT Sport Cameras as Ebbsfleet United were dispatched on Saturday evening.

And not even a disappointing performance on the road at Wrexham in midweek could dampen his mood, with Falkingham - sidelined for four weeks with an ankle injury last month - instead choosing to highlight the positives.

“These have been the best days ever, I feel on top of the world right now,” he said.

“My daughter, Penelope, is absolutely perfect and obviously I was really pleased to get back out on the pitch against Ebbsfleet after my injury.

“I was fit enough to be involved against Sutton the week before but Sadie [Falkingham’s partner] went into labour late on the Friday night.

“My daughter coming along when she did might have done me a favour to be honest because it bought me an extra full week of training, which meant that when I did come back I was in better shape.

“Saturday went very well and although we didn’t end up getting the three points that we set out to bring home from Wrexham, there are still positives to take and we’ve extended our unbeaten run.

“I definitely feel like we’ve turned a corner after our indifferent start to the season.”

Town were well off the pace during the first half in North Wales, and could have been dead and buried had Bobby Grant added to his early goal by converting a 59th-minute penalty.

They did however rally in the closing stages and finished the game in the ascendancy, claiming a point via Ryan Fallowfield's late equaliser.

“We could quite easily have gone on and won the game in the end, and that’s the sign of a good team, picking up points when you’re not at your best” he added.

“We didn’t play well in the first half but kept it at 1-0 which meant we were always still in with a chance.

"There were some heated words from the gaffer at half-time, and rightly so, however once we got a foothold in the game in the second half, we scored and looked the better team.

"You're not going to play brilliantly every week. You won't dominate the ball in every game even though that's how we want to play, but it's important that you adapt to the situation and find a way to get a result.

"Earlier in the season, I think we'd have lost that game, so the pleasing thing is the character that the lads showed. We were able to hang in there and come away with something."