'Terrible' Harrogate Railway lucky to escape with a point from Nostell Miners Welfare clash

The Starbeck club, who currently sit third in the NCEL Division One standings, needed a stoppage-time equaliser from Kieran Greenway to prevent their struggling visitors from leaving Station View with what should have been a shock result.

And although ultimately relieved to see his players extend their long unbeaten run into a 24th match, the Rail chief was far from happy with the football they served up on the night.

"On reflection, it’s probably a point gained because, to be brutally honest, we were terrible against Nostell,” O’Connell reflected.

“We probably didn’t really even deserve a point on the balance of the 90 minutes, but having said that we could still have won the game.

“We just weren’t at the races. We lacked energy, lacked composure, didn't really play any football. We couldn't string five passes together, which is really unlike us.

"With the ball and without the ball, it was nowhere near good enough. We pride ourselves on keeping things tight and defending properly, yet we have conceded three goals in a game.

"Sometimes you’ll have one or two who have a bad game, on Tuesday we had seven or eight who just weren’t at it, and that makes it very difficult in terms of trying to get a positive result.”

Greenway’s sixth-minute opener handed Railway the lead, but strikes from Jack McGahan and Reagan Waud turned the game on its head before half-time.

Fatlum Ibrahimi got the hosts back on terms in the 70th minute, however Nostell went 3-2 up 10 minutes later when Jack Bull found the net.

Greenway then scored direct from a corner to nick O’Connell’s side a share of the spoils at the death.

Their failure to beat Nostell in midweek means that Railway drop down one place to third in the table ahead of this Saturday’s home clash with mid-table Ollerton Town (3pm).

They now sit two points behind second-placed Rossington Main, but with three games in hand, and five points shy of leaders Campion.