Harrogate Raiway 2-0 Hall Road

Hall Road Rangers lost out at Harrogate Railway Athletic on Saturday as they suffered a 2-0 defeat.

Hall Road asserted themselves very well in the first half as they pressed the Harrogate Railway defence and were effective in winning the ball back high up the pitch. There was an early chance for Rangers which came in the 2nd minute. This fell to Sam Robinson who put it off target. Harrogate Railway later had an effort cleared off the line by Luke Bullement.

A couple of minutes before the break, Rangers had a very good opportunity. Sam Robinson ran through on goal and saw his shot well saved by Harrogate Railway keeper Joe Wilton.

It was a different affair in the second half as the hosts began to consistently threaten the Rangers goal. The hosts took the lead in the 58th minute when Dan McDaid’s corner was punched by Rangers keeper Aidan Smith into his own net. More threat came from Harrogate Railway in the 64th minute. A Dan McDaid free-kick found Dan Thirkell who put a header wide.

Through a well-executed counter-attacking move in the 82nd minute, the Rail doubled their lead. Marcus Day was sent clean through the Rangers defence and he sent the ball into the back of the net.

Rangers joint boss Leon Sewell was happy with his side’s performance despite the final result.

“Tough one to take as I thought we were well in the game. We defended very well in the first half and I thought we pressed Harrogate Railway really well from the front. Similar to last week, we didn’t take our chance in front of goal of which we would have had more impetus going into the second half. Our senior players led by example from the 1st whistle to the last.

I must mention that we had seven u21s, four of those were u19s, in our match day squad and it’s important that they get the recognition they deserve. We’ll be back at it next Saturday afternoon when we welcome Swallownest FC to Haworth Park” he said.

Oliver Harsley