Athletic held by Railway
Scarborough Athletic ended their run of four straight defeats on Tuesday night when they were held 2-2 at home by lowly Harrogate Railway.
The point will alleviate a touch of the pressure on Boro’s players and bosses Bryan Hughes and Paul Foot, but the winless run now stretches to 10 games in all competitions.
In a match of two halves, Boro produced all the football in the first period, but after the break things became stretched as the incisive play reverted to a unattractive and unproductive long-ball game.
And despite a desperate finish from the hosts, they once again failed to pull clear and grab that all-important victory.
Joint-managers Hughes and Foot threw out an attacking 11, with Gary Bradshaw taking his place in a threepronged strikeforce, alongside Saturday’s starting two of Ryan Blott and Tom Corner.
Despite this Boro made the worst possible start to the game as an innocuous freekick into the box picked out Tom Owen, who rose unchallenged to head home.
This came after a hugely positive start for the hosts, who had caused many of the early problems.
Fortunately the Boro zeal continued, rather than what has become a usual trait of Boro completely falling apart after conceding.
It took just 10 minutes for them to level things up and when it came it was a finish of true quality.
Harrogate keeper Tom Goodwin punched clear a ball into the box, Fernando Moke set himself and delightfully lobbed into the vacant net.
There was more to come from Boro as they swiftly turned the game on its head.
Nathan Peat dummied a corner from the right and Ryan Qualter was there to bundle home the second of the evening.
The pace of the game relaxed from there until the half-time whistle, though Boro keeper Jody Barford was forced to make the odd save to keep Railway at bay.
Boro could have possibly extended their lead at the beginning of the second period when Bradshaw danced free on the right.
The striker cut in and let go with a shot that was scuffed off the line and to safety by a Harrogate defender.
Play soon swung to the other end where Railway grabbed a fortunate leveller, Fatlum Ibrahimi’s deflected shot looping up and into the top corner of the net.
This sparked a few more concerning moments for Boro, with Danny Thirkell planting a header just wide and Barford making two great saves to keep out Ibrahimi efforts.
Boro still had a final wind left in them and in the end they were unlucky not to grab all the points.
Goodwin made an unbelievable save to keep out Moke’s volley, then Qualter hooked an effort against the Harrogate post.
But the winner never came, resulting in the continuation of a frustrating run, a striking drought and a drop down the Evo-Stik North table.