Mick O'Connell confident that Harrogate Railway can continue play-off push into 2022

The Starbeck outfit were beaten 2-1 at home by Steeton in the West Riding County Cup on Tuesday evening, bringing to an end a run of three consecutive victories.

But, the Rail know that three points at Glasshoughton Welfare on December 28 could well see them head into the New Year as high as fourth in the NCEL Division One standings, leaving O’Connell more than satisfied with his players’ efforts over the first half of the campaign.

“I am really pleased with the lads so far,” he said.

“We set our stall out at the start of the season to try and challenge for the play-offs and the lads have bought into that and they’ve done well.

“I think that we have been getting better pretty much every week and if you compare us now to the team we were back in July and August, we are a completely different animal.

“Our young lads have really matured in the last six to eight weeks, and even the more experienced players who we brought in to guide them, they have improved too.

“So, I am confident that we can keep on challenging in the second part of the season. We need a bit of luck and to avoid too many injuries, but if we do that then I know these boys can compete and maybe even climb a bit higher than fifth place where we currently find ourselves.”

Having scored four times in the space of 25 first-half minutes in Saturday’s 4-0 romp against Worsbrough Bridge Athletic, red-hot striker Joe Crosby was on target again on Tuesday evening.

He edged Railway ahead after 20 minutes, though Steeton levelled through Andrew Briggs just 60 seconds later and went on to win what was a feisty affair courtesy of Mo Farhan Subhani’s strike early in the second period.

Reflecting on his side’s County Cup exit, O’Connell said: “We started the game okay, first half we controlled most of it but were only in second gear really.

“We hit the cross-bar twice, I think, scored a good goal, and then we let them back into the game.

“On the whole, we just looked a bit flat, we looked tired. I know these players and before the game some of them looked tired. Some of them are ready for a break now.

“We have worked them hard up to this point, so I’ve got no complaints . We lost the game trying to win it, we got done on the break but that’s football.

“We’ll re-group and we move on.”