Toolstation NCEL Premier Division
Hall Road Rangers manager Dave Ricardo
Dave Ricardo has admitted that he needs to strengthen his Hall Road Rangers squad.
The Division One champions have lost to Bridlington Town and drawn with Parkgate and Hemsworth Miners Welfare in their opening three matches.
Ricardo says he expected a tough start and he told Non League Yorkshire: “It has been frustrating and I think the players didn’t realise how hard it is going to be this season.
“It is a step-up. In the odd game last season against a team from above we would hold our own, but week-in-week-out, it is hard. It is going to take a few more weeks to acclimatise.
“We lost three or four important players in the summer through retirement, law degrees and work commitments.
“I have struggled to get the players in to cover all those positions. I need to sit down with the chairman and see what we can do in terms of enticing players because we are still two-or-three short.
“One of the key reasons for success last season was that we had a strong 17/18 man squad and we need to make sure we do again.”
Ricardo’s men were on top at Hemsworth in the first half, but despite a host of chances, they were unable to score more than once.
Hemsworth hit back and led 3-2 until Matty Crane’s dramatic 97th minute goal.
“I think we could have got a couple more in the first half, but they could have got a couple late in the first half,” he said.
“They hit the bar from a cracking shot from Richard Collier.
“I think the main difference was that they have played a season at this level and are hardened competitors.
“The team which went up over a year ago is one of the best teams I have ever seen in Division One.
“I don’t think there will be more than a handful of teams getting points from games at Hemsworth this season.
“We changed things for Hemsworth. We have been too direct recently so we got it down and broke from deeper and kind of played it through the phases. We looked good at times.
“I was disappointed when we went 3-2 down. There were fine margins because there was a couple of times when we didn’t go with runners, for two of the goals.
“I thought Brad Dockerty coming on was the turning point in the game. He was the best player on the park in the second half and he was the difference.”
Hall Road’s equaliser was so dramatic as the final whistle arguably should have already been blown. Because all of Hemsworth’s match ball’s had been kicked out of the ground, there was a long delay in stoppage time to find a ball.
When one was found, Crane popped up, sparking scenes of jubilation – including the sight of Ricardo running down the touchline punching the air.
In the euphoria after the final whistle, Ricardo was also seen jokingly miming the action of pumping a ball up, in front of the tunnel.
“I think the last time I saw an ending to a game like that was probably when Aguero scored for Man City to win them the Premier League,” he added.
“The game was up and if they had had a ball then it would have been over. Hemsworth had been killing the game off superbly.
“There were brilliant scenes when we equalised. I would have got to the corner flag, but with my weight and age I think I got to the footballkitsandtrophies.com advertising hoarding.
“We’re all kids really and we enjoy football for moments such as those.”
Hall Road entertain Harrogate Railway tomorrow. Their master of ceremonies Josh Batty remains suspended.