Alex Pattison insists that his Harrogate Town team-mates deserve the credit for his fine form in front of goal

Alex Pattison celebrates after firing Harrogate Town into a fifth-minute lead against Mansfield Town. Pictures: Matt Kirkham

The 25-year-old netted 10 times from midfield last term and is now the Sulphurites’ joint-top-scorer for 2022/23 after his fifth-minute opener against the Stags took him level with Matty Daly’s current tally.

Pattison’s pace, his ability drive past opponents, launch and support counter-attacks and a visible determination to get himself into the opposition box at every opportunity have seen him become arguably Town’s most potent threat since he joined the club from Wycombe Wanderers last summer.

And, while pleased with his own contribution, he highlighted the role of midfield partner Josh Falkingham and those supplying the ammunition as being equally as significant.

Alex Pattison beats Mansfield Town goalkeeper Christy Pym to set Harrogate Town on their way to a 3-0 success at Wetherby Road.

"I’m happy with six goals, but I think I could have had a few more," he told the Harrogate Advertiser.

"If I’m nitpicking, I’ve had a lot of shots and sometimes I just need to be a bit calmer in front of goal.

"When Falks [Falkingham] plays it gives me that freedom to roam, to get forward and get in the box and that’s why I’ve scored a fair few goals since I have been here because I’ve had someone like him alongside me.

"When we get quality into the box, I can be there to try and finish off the chances and hopefully I can continue doing so.

Alex Pattison on the attack during Harrogate Town's League Two win over Mansfield Town.

"I’m still enjoying my football. It’s great here, the lads are brilliant and it’s just about getting points on the board and doing my job. That’s what I need to keep doing.”

Saturday’s opener in the 3-0 win over Mansfield saw Pattison played in behind the Stags’ back-line by Danny Grant, then cut onto his right foot before bending an accomplished finish inside the far post.

"Danny was running through and I just tried my best to get around him and luckily he saw my run,” the former Middlesbrough midfielder added.

"It was a great ball, perfectly-weighted for me to finish off, so I was buzzing with that start to the game.

"To be honest, I got it stuck under my feet a little bit. I wanted to touch it across to my left foot and then hit it across the goal, but I’m kind of glad it went to my stronger foot and I just tried to bend it in the far corner, not smash it, just try and caress it. Luckily it went in.”

Saturday’ win was just Harrogate’ second in 15 League Two outings, but having produced a number of good footballing displays of late, Pattison felt that such a result has been coming for some time.

"We’ve been saying for a few weeks that we’ve been great between the boxes, but at the end of the day it is the results that matter and today we have got that,” he said.

"I think in a number of recent games we have started off quite well, obviously we conceded early against Leyton Orient last week and that took the sting out of the game, but other than that I think we’ve been playing well and just needed a bit of luck or bit of quality to get a goal and get in front.

"From there, we’ve showed what we are capable of throughout the whole 90 minutes and come away with a 3-0 win which was thoroughly deserved.

“I would say it’s probably our best attacking performance of the season so far. We created a lot of chances and obviously when you put them away it looks good.

"All three were good goals to be fair, so as long as we keep carrying on creating chances and continue to put them away we will win a lot more games than we lose.”