Harrogate Town AFC

As well as competing on weeknights for Josh Falkingham's U23s in the West Riding League, many of our U23 players feature for local sides on weekends.



The most popular choice are currently Garforth Town who compete in the NCEL Premier Division alongside the likes of Bridlington and Liversedge, with four of Town's U23s on their books.

Defenders Jordan Chippendale and Soni Fergus have joined The Miners this season, while midfielder Sam Barker and striker Sean Hunter have been at The Bannister Prentice Stadium for some time now.

Elsewhere Aaron Haswell and Panos Katsamagas spend their weekends at Ossett United in the Northern Premier League, competing in a tough league with teams like Brighouse and Tadcaster Albion.

Another side with two of Town's U23s are Knaresborough Reserves, with both Harry Clark and Jordan Myers turning out for our neighbours at Manse Lane.

Finally, U23s goalkeeper Joe Wilton has been playing between the sticks for Harrogate Railway down at Station View this season, gaining valuable first team experience to aid his development.

All four teams are located within a short drive of The CNG Stadium.

U23s Manager Josh Falkingham, who will be looking to guide his side to a fifth title in a row this season, added “To have so many lads out and about playing a good standard of football is great for them and for us as a team.”

“Having them come back to train and play games with us helps push up the standard of the whole squad and hopefully we'll be able to get more of our lads out there playing at weekends.”

“We want to bridge the gap between first team and the 23s at Town and going out and getting games in men's football can only help that.”

To keep up to date with how our young players are getting on, give @HarrogateYouth a follow on Twitter.