Individual mistakes to blame for Harrogate Railway’s painful defeat at Club Thorne Colliery

That was the view of Fraser Lancaster after he saw a goal scored deep in stoppage time condemn his side to a 3-2 loss in NCEL Division One.

Having gifted their hosts a 2-0 lead in the first half, the Starbeck club fought back to level matters on 89 minutes and then hit the cross-bar moments later, only to then concede again at the death.

And Railway’s joint-manager described the nature of Saturday’s defeat as an “absolute sickener”.

“Based on the second-half performance, I would say that we deserved a point,” Lancaster said.

"We were much improved in the second half, but we gave ourselves far too much to do. We gave away two cheap goals from individual mistakes.

"Credit to the lads, they worked hard to get back to 2-2 but it’s just an absolute sickener at the end. It was another mistake, a lack of communication, and when they score right at the death, it makes it harder to take.

"I thought that we did deserve a point, so it’s very, very frustrating.”

Railway fell behind at Thorne when Jamie Hassall tried to punch clear Harry Brown’s 21st-minute corner, but only succeeded in diverting the ball into his own net.

The home lead was doubled when some slack defensive work following a lofted free-kick delivery allowed Adam Baskerville the opportunity to fire home at the far post.

Harris Eggleston pulled a goal back shortly before the interval, applying the finishing touch to a swift counter-attack after the ball broke kindly for him off a Thorne man.

Railway pushed hard for an equaliser after the break, and their cause was aided by the sending-off of home defender Dominic Mellor in the 71st minute.

The visitors did eventually pull level with a minute of the regulation 90 remaining, right-back Josh Lockwood drilling an effort into the top corner.

Harry Lynn then rattled the woodwork in added time as Rail came within a couple of inches of snatching the lead. But, there was to be a sting in the tail, and Ben Stobart added a third for Thorne after the visiting defence again failed to deal with a set-piece delivery.

Defeat sees Railway drop one place to 12th in the table.