Harrogate Town 4 Barrow 2: Three things we learned

Harrogate Town celebrate one of their four goals against Barrow. Picture: Matt Kirkham

Harrogate Town registered a first win in five games when they beat Barrow in midweek. Here's a look at what that result told us.

1. When Town get it right, they are nigh-on unstoppable.

Three goals in the space of just five minutes at the start of the second half saw Town go from 1-0 down to 3-1 up before Barrow knew what had hit them.

This demonstrated, once again, that when they they find their groove, Simon Weaver's side are close to impossible for anyone to cope with.

A glance back over 2018/19's results reveals that this isn't the first time that they've won games by blitzing the opposition with a quick-fire salvo.

Boreham Wood, Havant & Waterlooville, Solihull Moors, Aldershot Town and Barnet have also been on the receiving end this term.

2. If they had scored earlier at Dagenham & Redbridge then Simon Weaver's team surely wouldn't have come away empty-handed.

The men from Wetherby Road suffered just their second league defeat of the season at Dagenham & Redbridge on Saturday, but that contest followed a similar pattern to Tuesday night’s encounter; Town steady enough in the first half but behind at the break and then coming out all guns blazing for the second 45.

Just as was the case against Barrow, the men from Wetherby Road created chances at will as they dominated possession, however the difference at the weekend was that they did not make a breakthrough until the 83rd minute.

Had they scored earlier in East London, where let's be honest, they were all over the Daggers like a rash after the interval, then I’ve no doubt that they would have gone on to take at least a point.

Breaching the Barrow defence just eight minutes into the second period left them enough time to effect the necessary turnaround in midweek.

3. Nobody should write this Town side off too soon.

Without a victory in four games and a goal down at the break on Tuesday evening, things didn't look great for Town.

Given the fortuitous nature of Barrow's heavily-deflected opener, supporters could probably have been forgiven for thinking it was going to be 'one of those nights'.

It seemed as if what had been such a promising start to the season was in very real danger of evaporating.

But this Town side is not only full of quality players, it's also laced with character and resolve.

You don't recover from the disappointment of losing out in the National League North title race to rivals Salford City and still achieve promotion via the play-offs without a collective backbone.

This squad has developed a winning habit over the last 15 months and have also shown their ability to hang in there when they've been second best since promotion, grabbing late goals on a number of occasions to alter the outcome of games.