Cheltenham Town v Harrogate Town: 'Room for improvement' as Sulphurites aim to extend away run
Harrogate Town will be aiming to extend their unbeaten record on the road when they visit Cheltenham Town this Saturday (3pm).
The Sulphurites have made an underwhelming start to the new campaign, losing all of their three home fixtures to date without managing to score a goal, but have fared much better away from Wetherby Road.
Simon Weaver’s men beat League One Lincoln City 2-1 at Sincil Bank in the Carabao Cup, then drew 3-3 with Accrington before edging to a 1-0 success over Colchester down in Essex.
Those four points that 15th-placed Harrogate have earned on their travels are the only points they have banked thus far, and they will be keen to take something from their trip to Cheltenham in order to maintain the bit of daylight that currently exists between them and the League Two drop zone.
This weekend’s opponents sit one point worse off in 19th, having tasted victory just once in the league to date.
Relegated from League One at the end of last term, the Robins kicked-off 2024/25 with a dramatic 3-2 home triumph over Newport County on the opening weekend, Joel Colwill netting a 96th-minute winner.
But they then conceded in stoppage time to lose by the same score-line at Grimsby a week later, before suffering a 1-0 reverse when they entertained AFC Wimbledon.
Saturday saw Michael Flynn’s side slip to a third straight defeat, going down 2-1 away at Walsall.
If Town are to inflict more pain on Cheltenham, and extend their own impressive run away from home, then they will need to improve significantly on the "dross" they served up on their way to a dismal 1-0 home loss to Barrow last time out.
“There’s a lot to improve upon from last week, we want to play better than we did," Weaver said.
“There’s room for improvement and the players can be better than that, but we've had a positive week and worked on aspects of what we want to be as a team and how we will try to achieve that.
“Everybody has worked very well through the week, it’s been competitive, and everyone has come through well.”
Harrogate’s only previous trip to Whaddon Road began well, with Jack Muldoon firing them into an early lead, but ultimately ended badly, with Cheltenham running out 4-1 winners to seal the League Two title.
On what he expects from the Robins this time around, Weaver added: “It’s hard to predict Cheltenham’s line-up at the minute.
"They've changed it around a bit the last few games in terms of system and players, so we really just have to focus our attention on being a better version of ourselves."