Harrogate Town v Portsmouth: Town fans go to new heights to back team as Victoria Shopping Centre statues show their team colours

The lofty statues on the Victoria Shopping Centre have been given Harrogate Town hats and scarves ahead of Monday's FA Cup tie with Portsmouth.

Eagle-eyed shoppers in the town centre on Saturday will have noticed there were one or two additional Town fans on show that normal... fans with very 'high' opinion of the team.

For anyone looking to the skies around the Victoria Shopping Centre will notice that the controversial statues balanced around the rooftop are in fact wearing Town hats and scarves.

In what we can only assume was a show of support for the team from the Victoria Shopping Centre management ahead of their big Cup clash with Pompey, every statue was adorned with yellow black.

The 'new' Harrogate Town fans with their hats and scarves on top of the Victoria Shopping Centre.

The statues were highly controversial when the shopping centre was first built, with residents flooding the Harrogate Advertiser letters page protesting they were ugly and out of keeping with the town.

Simon Weaver's National League side face former FA Cup winners Portsmouth in the Cup first round on Monday evening in a game many believe to be the biggest in the club's history.

Screened live on BT Sport, it is also expected to be a sell-out with only a few hundred home tickets remaining and the south coast club already selling out its 600 allocation.

It is not the first time the statues have been given hats and scarves.

The statues on top of the Victoria Shopping Centre have all been given Harrogate Town hats or scarves ahead of the big FA Cup tie against Portsmouth.

More than once, the statues have been handed hats and scarves in winter months to keep out the chill... this time, however, it is all in aid of Harrogate Town.