PR: Harrogate Railway vs Hall Road

Hall Road Rangers are looking to cause an upset on Saturday as they take on Harrogate Railway Athletic at Station View. It’s going to be a very stern challenge for Rangers. This is due to the fact that Harrogate Railway have the 2nd best home record in the league having won 13 of their 17 home games.

Furthermore, Harrogate Railway have won six of their last seven league games and occupy 3rd position in the NCEL Division One table. Sitting 12 points clear of 6th placed Retford FC, the Rail look to have secured a place in the play-offs.

Mick O’Connell’s team have the 5th best attack as they’ve scored 80 goals. 46 of those have been scored by the trio of Joe Crosby, Dan Thirkell and Marcus Day. Crosby and Thirkell both have 16 league goals whilst Day has a tally of 14 league goals to his name.

As well as this, the Rail possess the 3rd best defence. They’ve only conceded 44 goals and kept 13 clean sheets thus far. The previous league meeting between Rangers and Harrogate Railway took place last November and resulted in a 0-0 draw at Haworth Park.

Hall Road joint manager Leon Sewell is looking forward to the game.

“We’re looking forward to a trip up the A1 to Harrogate this Saturday. It’ll be a 1st for me visiting Station View and I’m sure it’s a 1st for our club since the relegation battle in the 2018/19 season.

I’ve got a lot of time for the lads running Harrogate Railway. Mick and his team have had a sterling season as they’ve stuck together and are reaping their rewards with their position in the play-offs.

We played out a great game at Haworth Park despite the result being 0-0.

Let’s hope we can sneak a 1-2 victory like the club did back on 14th August 2018 and bring the three much needed points home, some wind back in our sails and put our last two performances to bed” Sewell said.

Oliver Harsley