Harrogate Railway made a return to winning ways thanks to a 3-0 success at Athersley Recreation. Picture: Craig Dinsdaleplaceholder image
Harrogate Railway made a return to winning ways thanks to a 3-0 success at Athersley Recreation. Picture: Craig Dinsdale
Rob Youhill credited his Harrogate Railway players with coming up with some “outstanding” answers to the questions that were asked of them by Athersley Recreation on Saturday afternoon.
The Starbeck outfit bounced straight back from the disappointment of their loss at South Leeds last time out with an impressive 3-0 victory over in South Yorkshire.
Having enjoyed a superb first half of the season, during which they tasted defeat just once in 24 NCEL Division One fixtures, the men from Station View headed to Athersley in poor form.
But, after finishing up on the losing side in four of their previous five matches, the Rail got their promotion push back on track courtesy of a timely win.
“This was a huge three points,” Youhill said. “We have got loads of big games coming up, and we just have to take them one at a time, but this was a huge one for us.
"There’s no getting away from it, 2026 hasn’t been great for us, and even before that run, I was worried about this game.
"There are certain games that you worry about and this was one I worried about because Athersley compete, and they are just like us in the way that they can just run over teams – and that is what their game-plan is.
"So, I knew that this was going to be a challenge, and I am absolutely buzzing about the result. I expected that they would ask loads of questions of us, but I thought that our answers to those questions were outstanding.”
Railway got off to a flying start to Saturday’s contest, taking the lead inside the first minute thanks to debutant Jimmy Eyles, who converted Sam Clothier’s cross at the far post.
The game would however remain very much in the balance until the 75th minute when an Athersley goal-kick was intercepted and substitute Joe Navier was able to race onto the loose ball and curl an effort beyond the stranded goalkeeper.
Navier then turned provider as he picked out Eyles, who only joined the club from Goole last week, and the new signing steadied himself before calmly slotting a finish into the corner of the home net.
This Saturday, fourth-placed Railway entertain mid-table Armthorpe Welfare at Station View (3pm kick-off).
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