Mick O'Connell calls on his entire Harrogate Railway squad to be ready to play their part in play-off push

Bad weather saw the entire NCEL Division One fixture list wiped out on Saturday, meaning that the Starbeck side's trip to Nostell Miners Welfare has had to be rearranged for a Tuesday night in March.

That leaves the men from Station View with a minimum of seven matches to play next month, a task which O'Connell is sure will take its toll on tiring bodies.

And with fourth-placed Railway aiming to stay in the top-five and earn themselves a shot at promotion back to the Premier Division, the Irishman is certain that all of his players will be required to do their bit.

"The lads got a bit of a rest at the weekend but I'd have rather been able to play the game because now we're looking at seven games in March and playing Saturday, Tuesday, Saturday for most of that month," he said.

"It is going to be hectic, it's going to be difficult and playing that amount of games at this stage of the season can really throw a spanner in the works.

"Obviously we are pushing to finish in a promotion place and we don't want the backlog to affect us, but there's nothing you can do about the weather. Postponements, injuries, they're just part and parcel of football, so all we can do is knuckle down and get on with it.

"This is why you assemble a squad, for times like this, when you need to call upon it, when you need to utilise everybody you have at your disposal.

"All of them, every single one of these lads is going to have a part to play at some point between now and the end of the season, so it's important that they are fit and ready to go when they get the call."

Some of the players O’Connell is referring to haven’t even been making it into his matchday 16 in recent weeks, though the Rail boss is adamant that chances will come for those on the fringes of his squad.

“Even though we’ve had a few injuries, I’ve been having to leave lads out of the squad in recent weeks and these are good players who would walk into most teams in this league,” he added. “Normally I’d expect them to up sticks and leave to get games elsewhere, but they’ve all bought into the project here and they want to be a part of what we are trying to achieve.

“Like I say, they’ll all be needed between now and the end of the season and they just need to be ready so when the opportunity comes around for them they can try and seize it and keep their place in the team.”

Railway host 16th-placed Shirebrook Town this Saturday, 3pm kick-off at Station View.