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03
May
‘I don’t think we’ve ever had a better squad’: Harrogate Railway Ladies manager looks to next season
Harrogate Railway Ladies have completed another season in the Premier Division of the West Riding County Women’s Football League.
Finishing fifth out of 10 teams, the Station View side had a season of ups and downs – winning seven, drawing six and losing four.
They reached the third round of the League Cup and were beaten 3-0 in the County Cup last 16 by local rivals Knaresborough Town.
The Stray Ferret spoke to manager Rich Burns to get this thoughts on the season. He said:
Personally, I feel like we’ve improved. Behind the league winners we’ve lost the least number of games, but we’ve had too many matches where we’ve drawn and probably should have won.
It’s a case of us not being clinical enough in front of goal. Defensively, we’ve been solid this year, but if we were a bit more ruthless, we probably could have turned three or four of those draws into wins.
I think there’s a bit of disappointment within the coaching staff and the players because it feels like a missed opportunity to push for that second or third spot.
The Rail have firmly established themselves in the league, finishing between fourth and sixth every year since promotion to the Premier Division in 2020.
Only one team gets promoted each season from the Premier Division, meaning The Rail will have to set their sights on a league title if they want to go up.
Promotion would take the Station View side to Division One South of the North East Regional Women's League. This is the same league York City play in, while Harrogate Town play in the division higher, the Premier League.
Tier 1 to 7 of the women's football pyramid. Photo: The FA
Discussing what the club could do in the summer to improve, Burns said:
Our biggest problem this year has been not being clinical enough, so we want to recruit those players in the box that can give you 20-30 goals a season. We’ve got a few in the pipeline already.
Some players are going to be joining us from lower divisions that are good enough to play at this level, and some are coming from higher divisions, from teams like Sunderland Ladies.
We also want to focus on our training sessions more. We train twice a week but have decided to continue training once a week through the off season to keep fitness up.
Where we previously trained as a full squad on certain areas, we’re now going to deploy coaches to look at specific areas. For example, I might take the back five away to work on shape, whilst someone else might work on set pieces with the attackers.
Burns said that the club’s aim for next season was to push for promotion, and give a strong account of themselves in the cup competitions.
But with only one promotion spot available, how likely it is that Railway can win the league next season? Burns said:
I’d like to say the likelihood is high. We’ve got a very experienced squad and we’ve already got two or three new excellent players coming in.
This will be my 20th season with the team and, personally, I don’t think we’ve ever had a better squad.
Local rivals
In the league below, Knaresborough Town look set to be promoted.
With two games to go, the second placed side need only three points to secure promotion, providing Golcar United don’t drop any points in their last two games.
Knaresborough and Harrogate Railway have faced each other twice in cup competitions in the last couple of years, with the sides having one win a piece.
Burns told me what it would mean to have that local rivalry in the league:
I think it’s brilliant for the region and the division.
They’ll be looking to get promoted next year too after the run of form they’ve been on but as we’ve said only one team goes up so I’m really looking forward to it.
I don’t necessarily see it as a rivalry. Two sisters play for either side and there’s never any malice. It’ll be great to see them in the division and I hope they do get promoted because they deserve it.
Although Harrogate Railway have finished their season, with two games to go Knaresborough could seal their promotion next Thursday (May 8) when they travel to Ackworth Girls.
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