Billy Miller is refusing to panic despite Harrogate Railway’s poor opening four games in the Evo Stik Division One North
Billy Miller admits Harrogate Railway may have to change their style of play after shipping 18 goals in the opening four Evo Stik Division One North games.
Railway are bottom of the table after defeats to Droylsden and Farsley AFC over the Bank Holiday Holiday, but, the Railway chief is refusing to sound the alarm bells.
A cause for concern is the number of goals conceded so far. Railway drew 5-5 with Mossley on the first day before leaking three at Scarborough, six at Droylsden and another four in the clash with Farsley.
“If we weren’t playing well, I would think about panicking and going out looking for players,” Miller told Non League Yorkshire.
“I don’t think that is the case. If you take the Droylsden game out of it, against Mossley we played well, against Scarborough we played well and we played well again against Farsley.
“We had good retention of the football, but, it does not take a scientist to work out that we are conceding goals and we need to stop that.
“I think we are because we are trying to take the game to the opposition. We’re not afraid to have a go and while it is great entertainment for the neutral, for us it might be something we have to review.
“We have looked at all the goals we have conceded and we have never conceded outnumbered.
“We have made silly errors in defensive areas and if we had played a more rigid 4-4-2 or 5-4-1 we may have had a bit more cover.
“That’s not how we want to play. We want to get down and play and be exciting. We have a very young side at the moment and because of that we are a little naive and we go chasing games when we don’t need to.
“We are yet to see the best of us and I don’t think we are playing badly so there is no major panic yet and I always say that this league doesn’t sort itself out until ten to 18 games.”
Harrogate were still in the game against Farsley at half-time and that was the message from Miller at half-time.
But, a penalty was conceded and that effectively killed off any hopes of a comeback and Miller added: “I keep talking about consistency and continuity and what fits into that is concentration.
“I keep saying to the players that the minute you switch off and you get done.
“It takes one player from the opposition and Farsley have some quality players. A little turn or twist or bit of magic and before you know it, from 2-1 down and in the game, you’re 3-1 down.
“The penalty was a penalty, but, a soft one. Once again we got players getting inside the full-backs and that’s something we need to put right.
“Lewis Nightingale was really good today and he gave us a hard time today.
“We gave them too much room on the wings.
“Farsley have great outlets on either side and then Ross (Daly) and OB (Robbie O’Brien) were really strong in the middle.
“I think there will be there or there abouts at the end of the season if they can maintain the consistency.”