Fleetwood Town v Harrogate Town: 'Battering' players won't help Sulphurites end worst-ever League Two run

The Sulphurites travel to Fleetwood on Sunday afternoon having lost five League Two fixtures in a row for the first time since they were promoted to the fourth tier in 2020.

The North Yorkshire side have finished up empty-handed in four consecutive league matches three times in the last four-and-a-half years, twice in 2021/22 and once again during the early stages of the 2022/23 campaign.

But although Boxing Day’s 2-1 reverse at the hands of Grimsby saw them hit a new low, Town’s manager does not believe that “battering” his players, and emphasising exactly how bad recent results have been will do anything to spark an upturn in fortunes.

“I think that if you focus entirely on the last five games, you can over-analyse and stress the players out,” Weaver said.

“I think the big thing is making sure that I convey confidence to the players and we cut out anything else. We have just got to be positive.

“Confidence is huge in football and we have got to manage those confidence levels. It’s not just beating them with a stick - it’s not that at all, actually.

“Players always feel pressure when they haven’t won for a bit. So this is where we show our mettle and manage the players. We put an arm around a few and make sure that we come out fighting. You won’t do that if you just batter players.

“We have got to encourage them, and not be too harsh with them just because the outcomes are not going our way. We’ve just got to battle hard, and that’s life at Harrogate Town - and we are well conditioned to that.”

The grim reality, however, is that Town are currently exhibiting relegation form, and now find themselves just four points clear of the drop zone.

But, Weaver insists that having to deal with adversity is part and parcel of Football League life - particularly for a club of Harrogate’s stature, and also at a time when they are missing a number of key players through injury.

“We didn’t come to this level to have easy games, we came to be tested, we wanted to be tested - and we are being right now, but we have just got to stick together,” he added.

“If it can happen to Manchester City, the best team in the world right now, where they have a worrying time, then it can happen to Harrogate Town when we’ve got five or six players out.

“Grimsby was our best performance in the last five games and we move onto the next one.

“We’ve got to keep going, and the biggest thing is sticking together as a team. That is what we have always done.”

Fleetwood currently sit 16th in the table, four places and five points better off than the Sulphurites following their 2-0 Boxing Day success over Chesterfield.

That victory was however their first in six League Two outings, with the Cod Army’s own recent lean patch spelling the end for former Liverpool midfielder Charlie Adam, who has been replaced in the managerial hot-seat by ex-Barrow and Halifax boss Pete Wild.

On what Town should expect from a team under the direction of a man Weaver has come up against plenty of times in the past, the Harrogate chief said: “I think that he will make them harder to beat.

“They will probably go five at the back and it will be safety-first, but everybody has got different philosophies. He’ll get good lads there, like he did at Barrow and Halifax.

“He’s got a first impression to make and it will be a tough game.”

Striker Josh March returns from a one-game suspension for Town’s trip to Fleetwood, though midfielders George Thomson and Josh Falkingham, winger Ellis Taylor and defender Liam Gibson will all definitely miss out through injury.

Kick-off at Highbury Stadium on Sunday afternoon is at 3pm.