Feel-good factor is back at Harrogate Town ahead of FA Cup clash with Blackpool FC

Harrogate Town will go about their task of trying to cause an FA Cup upset this weekend feeling good about themselves, says Simon Weaver.
League One Blackpool are the visitors to Wetherby Road this weekend. Pictures: Getty ImagesLeague One Blackpool are the visitors to Wetherby Road this weekend. Pictures: Getty Images
League One Blackpool are the visitors to Wetherby Road this weekend. Pictures: Getty Images

The Sulphurites host League One Blackpool on Saturday buoyed by their midweek success at Mansfield, their first league win in seven attempts.

And Weaver says that Tuesday’s result means that Town will take on the Tangerines full of confidence and without any sense of pressure weighing down on them.

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“When you draw a big club from a higher division in the cup there’s not much pressure on you, but if we’d lost at Mansfield and were still on that indifferent run then I think the players still would have been feeling under some pressure to try and get a result,” he told the Harrogate Advertiser.

Harrogate Town manager Simon Weaver.Harrogate Town manager Simon Weaver.
Harrogate Town manager Simon Weaver.

“So, Tuesday’s win and the way we went about it was just what the doctor ordered. The lads were buzzing in the changing room and on the coach on the way home. That feel-good factor is back, and it’s very timely ahead of the Blackpool game.

“Nobody outside of the building will expect us to beat them, but we’ll go into it with confidence and looking forward to the challenge, rather than worrying about how long it’s been since we last won a game.”

Blackpool, a Premier League club as recently as 2011, currently sit 15th in League One and, as Weaver suggests, will begin Saturday’s contest as overwhelming favourites to progress to the competition’s third round.

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“They’re a strong team and boast one of the best strike partnerships in the division above in the form of Gary Madine and Jerry Yates,” the Town boss added.

“I’m not going to say anything daft like ‘I’m sure we’re going cause an upset on Saturday’, but I do have belief in our players. We’ll be attack-minded, we’ll go all out and go for broke.

"There's no point approaching the game in any other way, there's no replay to think about.

"It's a game that has all the hallmarks of a classic FA Cup tie. The fact that they're a high-profile team, a Premier League club not all that long ago, it just helps to fire you up even more."