Boreham Wood FC 4 Harrogate Town 1: Sulphurites need to be 'mentally stronger', says Simon Weaver

The Sulphurites would have headed into the weekend second in the table and within touching distance of the early pace-setters had they managed to convert possession into goals against AFC Fylde in midweek.

But, that unfortunate 2-1 home defeat was followed up by what ended up being a chastening afternoon at Meadow Park.

Having taken an early lead through Bailey Hobson, Town looked more than a match for the unbeaten, fifth-tier title favourites during the first half, however they were outplayed after the break.

In the ascendancy at the time, an individual error by Warren Burrell midway through the opening 45 minutes gifted the Wood a way back into the contest, and Harrogate boss Simon Weaver said that his players needed to react better to that setback.

“The first half an hour was really good. We were really in the driving seat and we went a goal up,” he told BBC Radio York.

"If we were a bit more incisive and showed more quality in the final third, we could have been two or three up. We were pressing them to a man, and it was superb.

"Then a mistake pops the balloon, and mentally we have got to be stronger as a team and not become dispirited, and concede the second goal through a penalty.

"We conceded two further goals after the break that were very disappointing, and our reaction wasn’t strong enough.

"The referee missed two blatant penalty shouts for us, which change the game. But we can only control what we can control, and we didn’t show enough ability in the final third – and we contributed to the goals against.”

There were just nine minutes on the clock when Town broke the deadlock and got their noses in front.

Morgan Williams dispossessed a Wood defender as the visitors pressed high up the pitch and midfielder Hobson did the rest, curling a neat finish beyond Luca Gunter from 15 yards out.

Oli Bainbridge then got in behind the Sulphurites defence and forced a good save from Luke Hutchinson, before the hosts pulled level in similar fashion to the way they fallen behind.

From a Harrogate perspective, the goal was certainly avoidable, and only came about after captain Burrell was guilty of making another costly error deep inside his own half.

Just as was the case at home to Tamworth seven days earlier, the veteran centre-half was caught in possession in a dangerous area and, once again, the outcome was a goal for the opposition.

On this occasion, it was Tarryn Allarakhia who took the ball off Burrell, before racing clear and beating Hutchinson with a calm right-footed strike.

Undeterred, Town continued to play some decent stuff and one promising move ended with Josh Hmami blasting a wild effort a long way over the cross-bar, before Will McGowan went down in the penalty area but was booked for simulation.

At the other end, Jay Bird came within inches of handing Wood the lead on 33 minutes when he crashed a shot from distance against the frame of the Harrogate goal.

A nice bit of interplay between Hmami and Hobson then teed up Lewis Cass for a strike at goal, however he pulled his attempt wide of the mark.

And disaster struck for Town just before half-time when the sliding Archie Baptiste caught Bird in the box, and Zak Brunt made no mistake with the resulting penalty.

Weaver’s men made a bright start to the second period and weren’t too far away from making it 2-2 within 60 seconds of kick-off as McGowan was just off target with a shot from 18 yards out.

But, less than 10 minutes later they found themselves 3-1 down.

James Clarke blocked off Cass as Brunt swung over a left-wing corner, allowing Chris Bush to arrive unmarked at the far post and head back across goal for Bird to nod home from barely a yard out.

Brunt then bent a long-range strike just past the upright, before Wood substitute Ben Whitfield picked out the top corner of the Harrogate net with a sensational volley, wrapping things up in the process.

With the match already over as a contest, home midfielder Regan Booty was shown a straight red card in the 80th minute for a high challenge on Ethan Bristow.

Almost immediately, Hobson came close to netting his second of the afternoon after taking aim from distance, then Jack Muldoon – on as a substitute for his first appearance of the season – drew a good stop from Gunter.

There was however to be no late fightback, with Saturday’s result leaving Town fifth in the table with 16 points to their name from nine outings this term.