Home defeat to Wrexham is a ‘bump in the road’ says Harrogate Town captain Josh Falkingham

Yesterday’s defeat was their first in seven matches – following on from six consecutive victories – and the first time that they had conceded a goal in almost a month. It also ended an unbeaten home league record that stretched back as far as August.

And it is with these statistics in mind that Town captain Josh Falkingham was able to write the result off as a bump in the road.

As disappointing as their second-half performance was, Harrogate remain second in the table and the overall picture is still an extremely healthy one. Thus, the 29-year-old midfielder is adamant that losing one match cannot and will not be allowed to knock them off course.

“We are gonna have bumps, we won’t get things all our own way from now until the end of the season,” Falkingham reflected.

“There are 14 games to go and we know that there are going to be ups and downs. It won’t take much for us to bounce back from this.

“We can’t let this result affect us going forwards. The season we’ve built, we can’t just deflate ourselves and let the bubble burst because of one result.

“It could have been a lot worse. They could have come here and dominated from start to finish, we could have been penned in and not had a touch and I don’t think it was like that. There’s a lot of self-belief and confidence in our changing room and we’ll make sure that we make things right and bounce back.”

Town were much the better side for the majority of the first period of Saturday’s contest, starting strongly but then falling behind on 11 minutes when Wrexham’s James Jennings became the first player to beat James Belshaw in more than eight hours of football.

Town failed to get going in the second half, and JJ Hooper took advantage to make the points safe in the 73rd minute.

Elsewhere, Cameron King’s second-half goal extended FC Halifax Town’s unbeaten run to six games as they won 1-0 at Chorley.

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PONTEFRACT Collieries claimed the Yorkshire derby honours thanks to a 4-2 victory at Pickering Town in the BetVictor League North West Division.

Bradley Dockerty, Joe Lumsden, James Baxendale and Vaughan Redford netted for fourth-placed Pontefract while Niall Tilsley and Iwan Heeley replied for the hosts.

Sixth-placed Tadcaster Albion had to settle for a 2-2 draw at Kendal Town despite leading 2-0 at one stage.

Bokinji Lebrun and Jack Walters put Albion in control before a second-half comeback from Kendal.

Brighouse Town also picked up a point in a 2-2 draw at Marine. Joe Jagger and Thomas Haigh were on the scoresheet for Town.

Third-from-bottom Ossett United slipped to a 2-1 defeat at Runcorn Linnets with Jack Stockdill scoring late on.

In the South East Division, Frickley Athletic fell to a 1-0 defeat at Loughborough Dynamo.

In the Northern Counties East League Premier Division, it was a day to remember for second-placed Liversedge who strolled to a 10-1 home victory over Handsworth.

Oliver Fearon netted a hat-trick, Joe Walton and Mark Simpson scored braces and the other goals came from Paul Walker, Alfie Walker and an own goal. Liversedge are level on points with leaders Staveley MW but have played a game more.

Fourth-placed Hemsworth MW drew 2-2 at Bottesford Town with the goals coming from Adam Wilson and Jason Davies.

A brace from Harrison Blake and a goal from Aiden Savory saw fifth-placed Yorkshire Amateur to a 3-0 victory at home to AFC Mansfield while Garforth Town drew 1-1 with Bridlington Town as Sam Barker found the net.

Struggling Knaresborough Town enjoyed an excellent 2-0 victory at Silsden with Gregg Anderson and Colin Heath both scoring.