Toolstation NCEL Division One
Harrogate Railway 3-0 Swallownest
The tide has surely turned now.
Harrogate Railway look firmly on the path to a brighter future after prodigal son Dan Thirkell hit two as Mick O’Connell’s men strolled to their first opening day victory since 2017.
There’s been a few false dawns over the past few troubled years, but this truly feels real this time.
Railway were absolutely outstanding – arguably their best display since the distant days of Nathan Cartman putting the Class of 92’s Salford City to the sword in the Northern Premier League.
Although Swallownest gifted them all three goals, Railway dominated possession and the visitors never ventured into a position where home goalkeeper Joe Wilton was properly threatened.
In the other dugout halloween had come early and the long honeymoon period for new ‘Nest boss Alex Nightingale is definitely over.
Take your pick to describe Railway’s sixth minute opener from a Swallownest perspective.
Disastrous, calamitous, catastrophic, dreadful.
Railway would use the word ‘dream’.
Using a corner routine devised by new Railway joint assistant manager Paul Clayton, Harrogate laid siege to goalkeeper Richard Watson’s six-yard-box.
Captain Dan McDaid’s corner was pinged into the near post and Watson somehow conceded after a surge of bodies forced the ball over-the-line.
Who scored it? Elliott Holmes claimed it, but it could have been anybody from the dugout side.
Railway have worked constantly on possession in pre-season and it showed.
The high technical ability of the Rail’ player is unquestionable and they pressed high, stretched their visitors in a relentless manner and were patient with the ball – rarely giving it away cheaply.
That’s not say ‘Nest were out of it at this stage.
Nightingale’s men were starting to win the odd corner and dangerous free kick.
However, they conceded a silly free kick on the edge of their own penalty area on the half-hour mark and that allowed Thirkell to curl a low effort into the left-hand bottom corner past the despairing Watson.
If that didn’t kill the contest. Railway’s third three minutes into the second half definitely did.
Talisman Steve Bromley was chopped down and Thirkell smashed home the penalty.
That pretty much left the rest of the game as a dead rubber.
Railway almost added to their tally late-on when Swallownest threw some caution to the wind.
Ryan Barker went through for a head-on collision with Watson, but blazed wide.
Thirkell nearly made himself the talk of Harrogate when he leapt like a salmon to head towards the top corner in a bid to complete a hat-trick.
However Watson made the save of the match to deny him.
Not that would have mattered, the job was done – Railway are up and running.
What They Said
Harrogate Railway manager Mick O’Connell
“It was a great start – we were ahead after six minutes and we had worked on that set-piece.
“I have to give all the credit to Paul Clayton. Since he has come in he’s worked tirelessly on set-pieces.
“I thought we executed it brilliantly and the delivery from Dan McDaid was unbelievable and Elliot did really well to get his head on it.”
On how straight-forward the second half was: “You came down and watched us train a few weeks ago and we have worked tirelessly on controlled possession.
“I’m really pleased because I thought we controlled the game on the possession front from start to finish.
“We were really good out of possession and we looked hungry.”
Swallownest manager Alex Nightingale
“Set-pieces were our undoing, absolutely.
“I don’t think they have crafted much in the game. The goals were the three chances they had apart from the last five minutes when we were more open.
“They haven’t hurt us, but you can’t concede from three set-pieces at this level.
“The first goal was kids stuff and to concede a goal after six minutes it knocks the stuffing out of you and second goal kills the game.
“We needed to create more, do more and we were really poor on the ball.”
The Teams
Harrogate Railway: Wilton, Hodgson, McDaid (captain), Thirkell, Clarke, Holmes, Rhodes (Clothier 74), Danby, Bromley (Shaw 85), Greenway (Barker 67), Naiver. Subs unused: Morris, Crosby.
Swallownest: Watson, Afonso-Ferreira, Nicholson, Flint, Smith, Goldenburgh, Williams (Terry 67), Grady (captain), Appleyard (Short 67), Greaves, Pearson (Lill 63). Subs unused: Blake, White.
Who Was In Charge
Brandon Blackman (8/10)
How Many Were There
105
Man of the Match
Jamie Danby (Harrogate Railway)
If you have enjoyed reading Non League Yorkshire over the past few months, please consider making a donation to the not-for-profit organisation NLY Community Sport which provides sport for children and adults with disabilities and learning difficulties. CLICK HERE to visit the JustGiving page. There is a video at the bottom of the page showing our work.
NLY Community Sport, run by James Grayson and Connor Rollinson, has always had combatting social isolation at the top of our objectives when running our Disability Football teams.
Our work is playing an important role in reintroducing our players, who have disabilities and learning difficulties, back into society.
We have six teams, a mixture of Junior and Adult teams – Nostell MW DFC, Pontefract Pirates, Selby Disability Football Club and the South Yorkshire Superheroes (Barnsley) – across Yorkshire.
We have enjoyed great success over the past three years. Several of our players have represented Mencap GB in Geneva, including Billy Hobson from Selby and Greg Smith, whose story is quite inspiring.
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Watch the video below to see highlights from our three years as an organisation. The video was produced for our players at the end of March to remind them of good memories from the last three years.