Simon Parkes hails Knaresborough Town's attacking quality following third consecutive victory

Knaresborough Town manager Simon Parkes believes that his forward line can to prove the difference as the club aims to mount a genuine challenge for promotion from the NCEL Premier Division.

The Manse Lane outfit have been in superb form of late, substantiating their manager’s view by rattling in no fewer than 12 goals in their last three matches.

Following a positive start to the campaign, Boro went five games without a victory during October, but have got their play-off push back on track in the last couple of weeks.

And although he insists that it is too early in the season to be worrying about the league table, Parkes is of the opinion that his attacking options should enable Town to compete with the best sides in the division.

“It does feel a bit different to previous seasons,” he told the Harrogate Advertiser. “We have real depth in our squad as a whole, but particularly in the forward areas.

“We brought in Ross McCormack and Carts [Nathan Cartman] to strengthen up top, and Ben Gelder has recently returned from injury, which has made a real difference.

“If you look at the other lads we have competing for those attacking positions, then it’s clear that we do have so many options, whether that be in terms of how we start games, or choose to change it from the bench if we need to.

“The boys have been scoring goals all season. There are times when we’ve not been clinical enough, but when you look at the games we have dropped points in, I think it’s been a case of needing to do some fine tuning at the back.

“I honestly don’t think the club has ever had so much quality in the ranks. I believe that we have one of the best attacks in this league, and that firepower could well prove to be the difference come the end of the season.”

Having ended that run of five games without a win by beating Parkgate 3-2 at the end of last month, Knaresborough recorded back-to-back victories when they put five past Worsbrough Bridge Athletic in midweek.

The fit-again Gelder added to his brace against Parkgate with another double, while Jack Dyche and Sam Leverett also struck during a one-sided first half.

Harrison Marvin did pull one back for the visitors in the second period, though Theo Hudson netted shortly afterwards to wrap up a 5-1 success.

On Saturday, Gelder notched once more to take his tally to five in three matches, but it was winger Slater Barnes who stole the show, smashing in a hat-trick as local rivals Thackley were dispatched 4-0 at Manse Lane.

That sequence of results has elevated Knaresborough to sixth position in the Premier Division standings, where they now sit just one place outside the play-offs.

Now level on points with both of the two sides directly above them, they are just two shy of second and third spot, and have games in hand on a couple of those teams.

Next up for Parkes and his men is a trip to struggling Frickley Athletic this Saturday (3pm).