A SHOCK Evo-Stik League defeat at struggling New Mills last weekend means Farsley cannot climb back into the Division One North play-off places with a win today.

Yet boss Neil Parsley says his side are relishing the second half of the season – starting at home to fourth-bottom Radcliffe Borough.

It was a mixed start to 2015 for Farsley as a derby victory over promotion rivals Harrogate Railway Athletic on New Year's Day was followed by a 2-1 defeat at relegation-threatened New Mills.

They had a poor first half against Railway and went into the break two goals down but turned the game around to win 4-2. Then last Saturday they overran their second-bottom hosts but the Derbyshire outfit snatched a last-minute winner.

Parsley, whose side sit seventh in the table, said: "We felt we deserved something at New Mills as we had enough chances to win it. They were good chances as well – but we didn't take them and we paid the price.

"The two games were polar opposites and, after the euphoria of the win over Railway, it was a massive comedown when we lost just a few days later. It was particularly frustrating to lose in that manner but we only had ourselves to blame.

"But there is time to come back from that and we intend to. We are only half way through the season, so there are a lot of points to play for and its up to us to play as well as I know we can and get enough on the board be in the play-offs.

"We have games in hand and even though we'd sooner have the points than a glut of fixtures, there is no point in worrying about it. The only thing you can do is make sure that when the games do come around, you get the wins.

"January's a difficult month for us because we have some big fixtures coming up, with the League Cup tie against Sheffield on Tuesday before we go to Salford City next weekend and we play Scarborough Athletic after that. They are tough games but we're looking forward to them."

Parsley is pleased to have almost all of his squad fit and no suspensions looming as the players who were accruing yellow cards managed to stay out of the referees' notebooks to reach the turn-of-the-year amnesty.