Crawley Town 3 Harrogate Town 1: Simon Weaver apologises to Sulphurites supporters after 'another one of those days'

Harrogate Town right-back Toby Sims was sent off late on in Saturday's 3-1 defeat at Crawley. Pictures: Matt Kirkham

The Sulphurites passed up the opportunity to move 12 points clear of the League Two relegation zone as they conspired to lose 3-1 to opponents who headed into Saturday’s fixture with the worst form in the division.

Scott Lindsey’s strugglers had been beaten in six of their previous seven, taking just one solitary point from the last 21 on offer and failing to score in three matches.

But they took full advantage of a lacklustre Town performance, breaking the deadlock with just eight minutes on the clock and doubling their advantage just before the half-time whistle.

Aramide Oteh’s brace was added to after the interval when Jordon Mutch’s 67th-minute strike ended the game as a contest.

Things then got even worse for Harrogate when right-back Toby Simms was needlessly shown a stoppage-time red card for throwing the ball at Ashley Nadesan.

And although Anthony O’Connor netted a close-range consolation in the 95th minute, Weaver was left completely “deflated” by a performance that could hardly have been any further removed from the one his players served up during their midweek success at Doncaster Rovers.

“We’ve let the away fans down today and I can only apologise,” the Town boss said.

“It’s another one of those days this season that really deflates you. Sunday is going to be an awful day reflecting on a really bad away performance.

“We just didn’t turn up as a team. It’s heartbreaking for the fans and, to be honest, it is heartbreaking for us as staff because we are massively up for it.

“I didn’t see it coming, Paul Thirlwell didn’t see it coming because we put out the same team that was so impressive the other night [at Doncaster].

“To go from hero to zero today as a team, it just dumbfounds you. We’ve not been willing enough to roll our sleeves up and do the dirty work today and we have conceded three lousy goals.”

Defeat sees Harrogate drop two places to 21st in the table, where they now sit just six points ahead of second-from-bottom Crawley, who hold two games in hand.