Results may be mixed, but Harrogate Town are learning on the job and still progressing, says James Belshaw

Despite claiming back-to-back victories on the road from their last two away trips, the Sulphurites have lost five of their last seven in all competitions.

An extremely bright start to life in League Two saw last season’s National League play-off winners initially challenging up around the top of the table, though points have been more difficult to come by during the winter months.

Goalkeeper Belshaw does however believe that perspective is important when assessing how Town have fared since promotion.

“Behind the scenes, and if you analyse our performances, you can definitely see clear progress,” he told the Harrogate Advertiser.

“If you’re just looking at the results then it’s not as obvious because we have been inconsistent for the last few months. But, I think that our recent form seems worse because of how well we started the season. If some of those positive early results had been spread out a bit more then I think the picture looks a bit different.

“It’s important to remember that the core of this team has come up from National League North. Apart from Steady [Jon Stead], we’ve not got very much Football League experience, so a lot of us are learning as we go.

“Lads are learning on their feet by playing at this level and, week by week, I think we are getting better.

“We’ve seen clear progression year on year since I joined Harrogate. In time, I think that we’ll see more tangible progress as a League Two club.”

In addition to pointing to the lack of collective experience at League Two level when considering Town’s mixed results since promotion, Belshaw also stressed just how big the jump from non-league football has turned out to be.

“This is the first time since I’ve been at the club that we’ve not been having it all our own way,” the 30-year-old added.

“In the three seasons since I joined Town, we’ve qualified for the play-offs three times and been promoted twice.

“But, there’s been a big jump in standard since we arrived in the Football League. There was a lot of talk about how there isn’t much difference between the top of the National League and League Two, but in my opinion, the step up is significant.

“You’re up against better players every week. They are stronger, quicker, you get less time on the ball and your mistakes get punished more often – as we’ve seen on a number of occasions in recent matches.

“For me, as a goalkeeper, it’s been very noticeable how much more clinical the strikers are in League Two. There really is a vast difference in the quality compared to what we were up against last season.”

Belshaw and his Town team-mates return to action on Saturday when they host Cheltenham at Wetherby Road, 3pm kick-off.