Bradford City 1 Harrogate Town 0: Sulphurites lacked quality in derby defeat, concedes Simon Weaver

The Sulphurites headed to Valley Parade having won their previous three League Two matches, but conceded within 60 seconds of kick-off and were unable to find a way back into the contest.

Luke Armstrong and Alex Pattison went close to levelling matters with second-half strikes, but ultimately Tyreik Wright’s early goal proved sufficient to settle Thursday’s Yorkshire derby clash.

"We were working our way up to the final third, it was just that little bit of lack of quality at key times,” Weaver reflected.

"We just needed one moment of quality like Bradford had with their finish, just to get back on an even keel. We didn’t penetrate as much as we had hoped we would.

"I thought that Luke’s effort was going to creep inside the far post and if we had come away with a point, we’d have valued that very much.

"I thought that the effort level was very good, we just didn’t create as many chances as we have been doing. But the lads kept on going.

"It’s rife in our changing room, the bug that is going around and so the players have done well. We’re a team that’s 50 percent at the minute in terms of energy levels, there’s a lot of coughing and spluttering in there, but we can’t feel sorry for ourselves.”

Town travelled to West Yorkshire in fine form, however they made the worst possible start to proceedings, falling behind with less than a minute on the clock.

Brad Halliday released on-loan Aston Villa forward Wright down the right and he cut inside Joe Mattock and onto his left foot before unleashing a low shot which seemed to wrong-foot Pete Jameson.

There was little between the sides for the remainder of the evening, though the Bantams looked as if they had doubled their lead in the 36th minute when Jameson failed to gather Romoney Crichlow’s hopeful strike from distance.

Wright was on hand to prod the loose ball into the net, however the Harrogate goalkeeper’s blushes were spared by the raising of the assistant referee’s flag for offside.

It took the visitors until early in the second period to create their first decent chance of the evening, Harry Lewis producing a fine finger-tip save to touch Armstrong’s goal-bound effort around his right-hand upright.

And Lewis made another important save on minutes, reacting well to deny Pattison after George Thomson’s left-wing corner broke invitingly for the Town midfielder at the far post.

But that was as close as Weaver’s men would come on the night, despite them throwing caution to the wind during the latter stages.

They never really threatened a breakthrough, with the hosts actually looking the more likely at the opposite end of the field.

Kayne Ramsay’s dangerous cross from the right flank did find Jack Muldoon unmarked at the far post on 90 minutes, however his first touch let him down and the ball ran out of play.

On the moment which decided the game, Weaver said: “It was a sucker punch. It was disappointing.

"Everyone was fired up and raring to go and within a minute they’ve slipped a ball down the side and we haven’t defended it well enough. It’s as simple as that.”

Results elsewhere mean that Town remain in 19th place despite Thursday’s defeat and stay seven points clear of the League Two relegation zone.