Harrogate Railway boss Rob Youhill disappointed by players' lack of work-rate during recent defeats

Luca Bolino was on target once again, but couldn't save Harrogate Railway from defeat at Staveley Miners Welfare. Picture: Gerard Binks

A frustrated Rob Youhill says that the very least he expects from his Harrogate Railway players is for them to “work hard” for 90 minutes.

Following a run of three consecutive victories, the Starbeck outfit have suffered back-to-back defeats to Bottesford Town and Staveley Miners Welfare in their two most recent outings.

Last week’s 1-0 loss in the NCEL League Cup was followed up by a 3-1 reverse on the road on Saturday, with the visitors three goals down at the interval.

And, while he accepts that his young side will experience ups and downs during what is their first season together, Youhill insists that giving 100 percent is the very least he expects.

Harrogate Railway manager Rob Youhill. Picture: Caught Light Photography

"We were a bit disappointed to lose to Bottesford in the cup last week,” he told the Harrogate Advertiser. "Even though they play in the division above, they were there for the taking, but we didn’t turn up.

"We drew a line under that result and tried to use it as a learning moment in the training sessions leading up to Saturday’s game. We are going to make mistakes and get things wrong, it’s just important that we learn from these situations.

"But against Staveley, we didn’t see any improvement. We didn’t put the issues from the previous game right, despite all the preparation we had done, which is extremely frustrating.

"I think that the most disappointing thing for any manager at any level of football is when your team doesn’t run or work hard enough. If you don’t run, you’re not going to win, it’s as simple as that.

"I don’t think we have ever seen this from this group before, but it should be a given that your players put in the hard yards. Working hard in games is the bare minimum we expect and we do not expect to see a repeat performance.”

Trailing 3-0 to first-half strikes from Noah Flint (2) and Dustyn Grierson, it took Railway until the 90th minute to get on the score-sheet, leading marksman Luca Bolino converting a late penalty.

"Normally we will dominate most games because we have a lot of possession, but on Saturday we didn’t work hard enough to be able to do that,” Youhill added.

"We were on a 3G pitch, which should have suited us, and up against a side full of young lads, just like ourselves, but we didn’t show up.

"We need a bit more fire in the bellies. A win would have left us just one point outside the play-off positions, so I feel this was a missed opportunity.

"A win would have left us just one point outside the play-offs. Now I feel like it’s very unlikely that we’ve much chance of breaking into the top five until after the festive period.”

Railway return to action this Saturday when they entertain sixth-placed Beverley Town at Station View, 3pm kick-off.