The past month marked a special occasion for Harrogate Town, and in particular the club's growing Youth Development Programme.
Monday 6th November saw a first ever fixture for the club's newly created U17 Shadow Squad against local rivals York City with players who had come through the PDC Programme now playing in competitive matches.
Town's young side acquitted themselves extremely well against well-established opposition, and led 2-1 up until the 70-minute mark.
The historic Town XI that day consisted of Nelson Omoreegbe , Nick McMahon, Olly Heselgrave, Gus Steele, John Steed, Matt Kirbitson, Tom Johnson, Lucas Abusin, Sam Richardson, Gabe Humphreys and Benjamin Connell.
Harrogate Town now have players as young as six years old training at The CNG Stadium throughout the week, and benefitting from top quality coaches at the best available facilities.
Our PDC Programme caters for boys and girls from under seven up to under 15 age group; with the philosophy that players are then ready to progress into the Under 17 Shadow Squad.
After the Under 17's comes progression to our West Riding U21 League winning side, managed by first team midfielder Josh Falkingham.
The route to the first team has never been so direct for Town's youngsters, who showed their talent recently, overcoming Goole's first team to reach the second round of the West Riding County Cup.
The efforts of everyone driving youth development at the club in recent years has seen the likes of Jack Emmett, Marcus Day and Toby Lees all progress through the ranks to be involved with our National League North first team.
Never before have there been such opportunities for local children; the future is bright for Harrogate's young footballers.