Rob Youhill hopeful that Harrogate Railway can use first loss in 15 league matches to their advantage in title race

The Starbeck outfit's title hopes were dented by a 3-0 reverse at Route One Rovers on Saturday afternoon, with that loss just their second in NCEL Division One all season.

Railway's only previous defeat came when they went down 3-2 at home to Doncaster City back in mid-September, with that painful result preceding a real purple patch which saw them take 36 points from the next 42 on offer.

And with three other teams also very much in contention for the division's one automatic promotion spot, Youhill knows that his players must once again deliver a similar response if they are to remain on track.

"Route One were so much better than us on Saturday," the Rail boss admitted. "No matter what league you're in, you've got to win the battle first and earn the right to play, but we didn't do any of that.

"I think we put one cross into their box in that game, which tells us everything we need to know about the way we played.

"So, we need to be much better than we were on Saturday, but if you're trying to take a positive from that result, you can look back to when we lost our first game of the season to Doncaster and there was a bit of a spike [in results].

"January is a big month for us. We've got a huge game next [against Glasshoughton] based on the fact that we have just lost, and then some other really big games in January.

"But, looking at the faces in the changing room after the game, some of us were really hurting. And, I would like to think that when you are hurt, that can be quite dangerous."

Railway found themselves 2-0 down with just 19 minutes on the clock on Saturday afternoon as Route One's former York City forward Reece Thompson bagged an early brace.

Zak Khan then left the visitors with a mountain to climb by adding number three in the 36th minute.

And although they improved after the interval, the men from Station View never really looked like getting themselves back into the contest.

That defeat saw the Rail drop one place to third in the table, where they now find themselves 12 points behind leaders Dearne & District, but with four games in hand.

This Saturday's home showdown with basement boys Glasshoughton kicks-off at 3pm.

In the NCEL Premier Division, both Knaresborough Town and Tadcaster Albion saw their scheduled fixtures postponed due to the recent cold snap.

Mid-table Boro are due to return to action this Saturday when they entertain leaders Liversedge (3pm), while sixth-placed Albion will be looking to climb back into the play-off places with a result away at Thackley (3pm).