Final-day victory at Morecambe FC will provide Harrogate Town with positive momentum heading into 2025/26
Pleasing though it was for Simon Weaver, seeing his Harrogate Town side end a run of nine away games without a win wasn’t the most satisfying aspect of Saturday’s 2-1 success at Morecambe.
The Sulphurites came from a goal down to take all three points on the final day of the season thanks to a pair of close-range strikes from Bryant Bilongo and Josh March.
That was the first time in five attempts that Town have managed to sign off a League Two campaign with a victory in their last fixture, and in doing so, Weaver believes that they now have even more positive momentum to take into 2025/26.
The men from Wetherby Road have enjoyed a largely positive second half of the season, and although wins on the road have been scarce, they managed to string together a superb 10-match unbeaten run at home to pull themselves clear of the drop zone.
Beating the already-relegated Shrimps at the weekend lifted Harrogate to 18th place - and 11 points above the bottom two - and left Weaver delighted to be able to round things off in positive fashion.
"I hate losing the last game of the season, no matter where you are in the table,” the Town boss said.
"It was so important to end well. I really wanted to come here and win the final game and put in a proper performance. It can be so easy to perceive it as a dead rubber.
"We were determined to get that away win. Sometimes there have been outstanding away performances, but we just haven’t managed to get over the line.
"But, we really wanted a winning mentality to go into the summer with and to build on. Hopefully we can take it into next season because the summer will come and go quickly, and what we wanted to take with us was that feeling of seeing the job through.
“And we can take it into the summer, that pride gained from finishing well. The aim is to build from strength with another year under our belts and we already can’t wait for next season.”
Their first year in the Football League saw Town lose 4-1 at Cheltenham on the final day, while they rounded 2021/22 off with a 2-0 loss at home to Sutton United.
In 2022/23, they drew 1-1 with Rochdale at Wetherby Road in their last league outing, then signed off for 2023/24 with a 2-2 draw on the road at Salford City.
Saturday’s victory was the Sulphurites’ 14th in 46 League Two outings this term, and saw them finish the season with a points tally of 53.