The Throstle Nest faithful have seen this season turn to dust in front of their eyes but Farsley manager Neil Parsley promises to galvanise his team and come back even stronger.

Expectations were high last August as Farsley began their second season in the Evo-Stik Division One North. They had finished in the play-offs the previous season after building on the momentum of their Northern Counties East Premier Division title the season before that as the new club rose from the ashes of the defunct Farsley Celtic.

The first half of the campaign was acceptable and in January the club were among the promotion hopefuls. As results tailed off so did their chances of the play-offs but they were enjoying a run in the League Cup.

When that ended, beaten in the quarter-finals by the third Premier Division club they faced, it was always going to be a long end to the season. However, Parsley disagrees with anyone who says there is nothing to play for.

He said: “We have got to improve and build the squad and the club back up again. There are a lot of games against teams higher up the league than us before the end of the season and I want us to prove we can be a force.

“The consistency has been missing all season. We had a purple patch around September last year when we went on a long unbeaten run but apart from that it’s been poor.

“We have fallen well below our standards on occasion and its happening far too regularly now. It’s getting to the stage where individuals are letting themselves down and we have to tighten up.”

Farsley head to second-placed Trafford tomorrow and any result is possible. They went to Ramsbottom last Saturday and won but two days later lost 3-2 at home to Harrogate Railway, who were sixth from bottom.

“That is our season in a nutshell,” added the manager. “Ramsbottom were second and we deserved to beat them in their own backyard. Then we didn’t do enough against Harrogate and got what we deserved.

“We spoke about it in the dressing room after that game. It sums up our whole campaign. We have been unfortunate in the number of injuries we have had and particularly with defenders but that’s part and parcel of the game.”