Harrogate Town AFC

Ahead of Saturday's match with Forest Green, we've been chatting to Ryan Fallowfield about recovering from Covid, being back in the starting XI and learning from individual mistakes... 

 
Fallowfiled on recovering from Covid...
 
I feel like I'm gradually building up fitness after each fixture. I was out of the team for a while because of covid. I'm glad to be back involved now.
 
The aches and pains were the worst. Knowing where my fitness levels are normally at to where they were during covid and after I had it, I was just nowhere near where I wanted to be. I had to let the Gaffer and Thirs know and they had to accept that I wasn't in a good way.
 
On changes to the squad over the last couple of months...
 
Yeah I have noticed a difference in the side because Boxing Day we were working around a smaller squad. Sometimes 4-5 players on the bench. You look at us now, we've got a much bigger squad, we can freshen things up if needed. 
 
You've seen that since January, there's been changes here and there, it's benefitted all of us and the results have come with that. We've won seven of the last 10 so it's obviously playing a part. 
 
I always want to play but you've got to relish the challenge of competing against other people. That's the nature of the job. I've got to be able to deal with that and be better, and better than the person in front of me. 
 
On the core group of players from National League North days playing on Tuesday night...
 
It's weird because I was talking to Lloyd [Kerry] not long ago about this. I was 21-years-old back then and I feel ancient now. I'm 25 and feel like I've been here for ages. When you do look at it like that, it speaks for itself really how far not just those seven players have come but how far the club has come and how well we've done with that collective group as well.
 
On facing Forest Green...
 
It was a tight game. The goal came from my side and I've got to do better at 1v1 defending. The winger got the better of me and got past me to score. I said it the other day after Stevenage, it's fine margins and fine margins can be the difference between the two teams, whether it be 1-0 to us or them. 
 
On the day last time, I was the fine margin the lad got past me and they scored. It made the difference.
 
To be honest there's no easy game in this league. Every game is as hard as the one before and the one before that. You look at the league and we played Barrow and Grimsby recently and they were both 1-0 wins. 
 
Both were tight games but it's a pleasing thing for us that we've been keeping the back door shut for quite a few weeks now besides the Stevenage game. It's a positive to take when we're not conceding goals. I expect a tight game on Saturday, the league doesn lie, they're third and they must have something about them to be up there.
 
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