Rob Youhill hopeful that Harrogate Railway can emerge 'stronger' from 'difficult' start to new season

Having taken four points from their opening two NCEL Division One matches, the Starbeck outfit were thrashed 5-1 by Leeds UCFA in midweek, then conceded a last-gasp goal to go down 4-3 at home to Winterton Rangers on Saturday afternoon.

Rocked by the loss of a number of key players to injury during pre-season and the early weeks of the campaign, Railway found themselves so short on numbers at the weekend that boss Youhill and his assistant manager, Mike Morris, were forced to name themselves as substitutes.

But, although he admits that he and his troops are in a “tough spot”, the Rail chief has vowed to stay upbeat and has pointed to the example of last season’s league runners-up Worsbrough Bridge Athletic as an example of what can still be achieved after some early set-backs.

"We are in a tough spot,” Youhill said. “But, I am trying to stay positive in the changing room because that is what you have go to do.

"Worsbrough had a similar start to this last season and they went up, so it’s about trying to keep that positivity.

"We’ll see where we are in a few months, but it feels like our blip in the season is happening now. This is a difficult period.

"But, what Worsbrough did last year, using them as an example, was rolled with the punches and went through the hard stuff really early on, and it made them a very strong side.

"There are some harsh lessons being learned at the moment, but as long as they are lessons, and we are learning from them, then hopefully we should be stronger as a result.”

Having taken a 41st-minute lead through Jack Mason, Railway were pegged back when Jason Chanayire struck on the stroke of half-time.

Lewis Walker then turned the game on its head 11 minutes after the resumption, but Ali Banks responded for the hosts in relatively quick time.

Chanayire netted his second of the afternoon to make it 3-2 to Winterton in the 72nd minute, however Rail again hit back almost immediately as Sam Clothier got his name on the score-sheet.

But, it was to be Rangers who had the final say through Charlie Bibby, who scored in stoppage time to decide matters.

"The desire was there, but I don’t know if the performance was,” said Youhill of his team’s efforts.

"The desire to try to do the right things was there, but we just can’t concede that many goals and expect to win the game.

"We’ve made so many mistakes on the day and conceded goals where Winterton didn’t really have to do much to score. It’s frustrating.”