Toolstation NCEL Division One
Mick O’Connell admits Harrogate Railway have enjoyed a good month but he is still rueing the dropped points against Dronfield Town and Worsbrough Bridge.
Rejuvenated Railway could be joint top if they had beaten Dronfield and Worsbrough.
Instead Railway are tenth in a very tight Division with 11 points following three wins, two draws and a defeat from six matches.
“(August) has gone okay but it could have been better,” O’Connell told Non League Yorkshire.
“We should have beaten Dronfield here.
“We look at that as two points dropped.
“We lost three points from a winning position at Worsbrough.
“We have to be cuter and defend better than we did there.
“We could have been standing here saying we’re nearly top of the league.
“It is ifs and buts though.”
The marquee win was the late defeat of giants Selby Town who lost for the first time this season when Railway put them to the sword on Saturday.
The result proves the corner has been turned and the stats prove it.
“We said it when we came in that there was a sign up saying ‘three point lane’,” he said.
“We have taken that sign down.
“We’ve instilled that steel in them and they’re hard to beat now and hard to breakdown.
“Last year it got curtailed after eight games and we were on nine points.
“We only managed the last three games but the (abandoned 2019/20 season) we were on 16 points after 25 games.
“That’s just not acceptable.
“We’ve set the standards and bar high.”
Selby is the first of a trilogy of games against the so-called favourites.
A trip to North Ferriby awaits Railway on Tuesday night before the home clash with Hallam on Saturday.
O’Connell hopes Railway can add more points to the board in the coming days.
“(The Selby win) is three points and we’re still in August,” he said.
“We just look at it as three points but it was a good win against a strong side who were top of the league.
“Listen, we can’t get too carried away.
“We need to keep our feet on the ground.
“We have Ferriby and then Hallam so it is a tough run but you have to play them at some point.
“Ferriby is always a tough place to go and Hallam have just hit form.
“I wouldn’t see three points of nine as an achievement as we would have dropped six points.
“We’ll go to Ferriby to try and get something out of the game.
“Here at home, we need to try and get something from the Hallam game.
“100% they’ll be benchmark games because those three are the favourites to go up and we’re minnows in terms of budgets in this league.”