Harrogate Railway reserves played away at Knaresborough Celtic in the Harrogate District 1st Division and with a Lancit League game also taking place at the same time, the squad consisted of ten players 16 years of age and 3 senior players all still in their teens.  Railway got off to a bad start when a goalkeeping error led to a back pass going straight in to the goal, but the rail rallied and were level within minutes when Lyle MacFarlane equalized.  A second error by the Railway keeper saw Celtic take a 2-1 lead only for Chris Donoghue to equalize! 2-2 with 10 minutes played!
Railway then dominated the remainder of the half.  Brandon Irving scoring an individual goal and then scoring a second right on half-time after some tremendous build up play. Railway started the second half - like they had ended the first and after a clever free kick from Blaine Hobson, Tom Robinson scored at the far post to give Railway a 5-2 lead!  Celtic then pushed three up front but Railway continued to have plenty of chances which were spurned but with hindsight would come back to haunt them.  Celtic pulled a goal back and Railway had to make two substitutions due to injuries but the experienced players in the Celtic team were now dominating. Two goals followed for Knaresborough which meant that all the momentum was with the home team.  Celtic finally took the lead with only 2 minutes of normal play left and then to make matters worse scored a seventh goal with the last kick of the game.
 
A very disappointing day for all, but one where a lot will be learnt and one that the young Railway players will never forget.
 
Regards,
 
Steve Donoghue