Critical week awaits Town
HARROGATE Town boss Simon Weaver doesn't believe his side's season rests on their next two games, despite them crossing swords with their closest relegation rivals in the space of three days.
Back-to-back defeats to Alfreton (3-1) and Blyth Spartans (1-0) this week have turned tomorrow’s home fixture against third bottom Gainsborough Trinity (3pm ko) and Tuesday’s trip to Vauxhall Motors (7.45pm) into vitally important clashes for the Wetherby Roaders.
Lose them and they face being cast further adrift in the red zone, but win them and they’ll cling onto the hope that The Great Escape could still be on the cards.
On Saturday Town’s woes on their travels continued with a 3-1 defeat at The Impact Arena.
Weaver’s side have been simply awful away from the CNG Stadium. They’ve yet to win a game, losing 12 and drawing three in the league, a record the coach knows they have to address sooner rather than later.
Town’s home form certainly hasn’t helped their predicament either.
They’ve only won four and collected one draw, the points gained wiped out by five defeats.
“I don’t think it’s make or break, if we lose against Vauxhall what do I tell the players? I’m not going to say that’s it, they’ll still be 15 games to play after that,” said Weaver, whose side could come face to face with former Wetherby Road old boys Darren Dunning, Nathan Peat and Ryan Toulson tomorrow.
“But we know how important they will be. We just need something to get the ball rolling and get us going on our way. We played well against Blyth but didn’t get that break we needed.
“That’s going to change too. If we win the next two games we’ll be in a lot better position and then there’s everything to play for.
“We’re not finished yet.
“We’ll keep fighting right until the end.”
Meantime chairman Bill Fotherby is urging supporters to roar Town through tomorrow’s vital game against Gainsborough.
Only 142 turned up for the last fixture at the CNG, a midweeker against Hinckley, and the supremo wants an improvement.
“Aside from the Hinckley game, we’ve not played a home game since November,” he said.
“But I need the crowd behind us on Saturday more now than ever.
“If they can do that it’ll be like signing a new player, so I’m hoping that Harrogate Town’s supporters will give us that support this Saturday.
“We are so near to securing a new ground for the club but we need all the help from the supporters we can get. It can happen.”
On Saturday Alfreton took the lead on eight minutes when Anton Brown slotted home past Aaron Ratchford.
Paul Clayton made it 2-0 ten minutes before half-time and the points were sealed on 53 minutes thanks to a Jake Moult strike.
Adam Nowakowski grabbed back a consolation on 62 minutes but it proved in vain as Town returned home once again pointless.
The afternoon was made even worse when Martin Foster was shown a straight red card for an off the ball incident on Clayton.
Then on Tuesday night their long trip north to Blyth also proved fruitless. Town were very much in the game at the break with the score goalless, however a 71st minute strike by Chris McCabe stole the points for the home side.
And to make matters worse, Vauxhall’s win over Ilkeston pushed Town to the bottom of the pile and leaves them seven points from safety.
“I punched the door on Saturday and shouted at the players with blood dripping down my hand, I was that annoyed,” said Weaver.
“But it was a lot better against Blyth. Richard Dunning and Adam Nowakowski were excellent, biting into tackles straight away.
“We need more of that.”
andrew.groves@ypn.co.uk
Blue Square NorthP Pts
Fleetwood Town28 60
Southport 27 57
Hinckley Utd 27 48
Eastwood Town 26 45
Alfreton Town 26 43
Droylsden 25 42
AFC Telford 27 39
Corby 24 38
Stalybridge 22 36
Workington 23 34
Ilkeston Town 24 33
Blyth Spartans 25 33
Stafford Rangers 28 31
Northwich 24 30
Gloucester 27 30
Redditch 28 29
Farsley Celtic 26 28
Solihull Moors 27 23
Hyde 23 23
Gainsborough 25 20
Vauxhall Motors 27 19
Harrogate Town 25 16
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Weather for Harrogate
Wednesday 08 February 2012
Today
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Temperature: -7 C to 0 C
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Light sleet showers
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