Simon Parkes backing his Knaresborough Town players to go on and enjoy a positive November
First win in six attempts can be catalyst for a return to form, says Boro boss following Parkgate success
Simon Parkes is backing his Knaresborough Town players to go on and enjoy a positive November after seeing them make a welcome return to winning ways.
The men from Manse Lane ended a run of five NCEL Premier Division matches without a victory when they triumphed 3-2 at Parkgate last time out.
Boro made an encouraging start to 2026/27 and managed to go seven games unbeaten between August and September, only to see their form tail off last month.
And although he doesn’t feel that his side did too much wrong in October and were “unfortunate” not to pick up more points, Parkes believes that beating Parkgate will provide a timely confidence boost.
“October was a challenging month,” he told the Harrogate Advertiser. “We were up against some tough opposition and found ourselves coming out on the wrong end of a few close games.
“But, I thought that we were a little bit unfortunate in most of those matches. Apart from Dearne at home when we were below par, we were never really undone.
“That said, the Parkgate win was important. We needed a reaction in terms of the result as well as the performance. So it was good to get back to winning ways against a good team, who I think are in a false position.
“We knew it would be a tough fixture, and that proved to be the case, but it was one of the best footballing games I’ve seen this season, and we just did enough in the end. We were fairly clinical in front of goal.
“So, I think we can now carry a bit more confidence into the coming month and have a good November as we look to find the consistency we showed earlier in the season.”
Knaresborough took the lead at Parkgate after just eight minutes when Jack Degruchy fired a low shot into the bottom corner.
Marcus McKernan drew the hosts level 10 minutes later, but Boro went 2-1 up midway through the half through Ben Gelder, who squeezed a finish under Sam Riches following a fine run down the right by Slater Barnes.
With the visitors very much in the ascendancy, Parkgate’s second equaliser came rather against the run of play when it arrived in the 34th minute courtesy of a Josh Nodder free-kick.
But, Parkes’ troops were not to be denied and they scored the evening’s decisive goal six minutes after the interval.
Barnes was again involved in the build-up, crossing for Nathan Cartman, who volleyed against the post, before Gelder followed up to net with a first-time effort.
Knaresborough now find themselves ninth in the NCEL Premier Division standings, though they sit just three points off third place and four shy of second, while holding games in hand on a number of the sides currently above them.