Sharpe will be patient with squad

Phil Sharpe has won four of his nine games in charge

Harrogate Railway manager Phil Sharpe has promised to show his players patience after they lost 4-2 at home to a strong Skelmersdale side on Saturday.

Sharpe told BBC Radio York: "If I have to I'll have to sign a couple more players but I don't want to change players just for the sake of it."

"We were playing against a side that, if not going to win the league, will definitely get out of it."

"We're miles away from their level at the moment, they are the benchmark."

Railway were second bottom of the Unibond League Division One North and a long way adrift of the pack when Sharpe took over two months ago.

Now they are still next-to-bottom, but have made up ground on several other sides.

Sharpe added: "We're competing in our own league, and as long as we beat the teams in and around us, we'll be fine.

"I thought we might be another three or four places further on but we have put more distance between ourselves and Salford [who are bottom] and only one team goes down.

"We've won four games out of nine in the league, which is not a bad ratio for a team when you've just taken over.

"You've got to be patient, but you can't go with it for too long, because we don't want to be sticking around that bottom area.

"I'm going to be a bit more patient but not too patient.

"We'll be alright, we've got enough out there to get us out of trouble."