Grimsby Town 1 Harrogate Town 2: 'Fluid' football earns Sulphurites 'deserved' three points

Matty Daly celebrates after firing Harrogate Town into a 2-0 lead in the 72nd minute of Saturday's League Two clash with Grimsby. Pictures: Matt Kirkham

The Sulphurites recorded back-to-back wins for just the second time this season when they followed up last weekend’s home triumph over Notts County with a 2-1 success at Blundell Park.

Liam Gibson and Matty Daly put the visitors in control with goals in each half on an afternoon which saw them create plenty of scoring opportunities in challenging conditions.

And although Kieran Green pulled one back for Grimsby in stoppage-time, Weaver felt that Town got their rewards for their positive work in possession and hard work without the ball.

Abraham Odoh takes aim at the Grimsby goal.

"On a windy day, to play the style of football that we did, and create so many opportunities to score, gives us great hope moving forward,” the Harrogate boss said.

"Grimsby have got the ingredients to do well under David Artell, they were six [league] matches unbeaten, so we knew that we would have to figure a way of winning the game with the home support fully behind their manager and team.

"But, we didn’t just come here to dig in and defend, we obviously had to be resolute, Grimsby have some good players.

"We frustrated them with the way that we pressed high up the pitch, and if they did break through our first press, then we met together in the middle of the park and were intense out of possession.

"When we did play and build from the back, it was great because we outnumbered them in midfield and managed to find areas where we were dragging them around and it looked really fluid.”

Having failed to completely kill off their opponents, Green’s late strike meant that Town had to endure something of a nervy finale, but Weaver insists that he was confident in the way his side defended both before and after conceding.

"The 2-1 scoreline made it look a tighter battle in the last few minutes, but I thought that it was a really professional display.

"It [Grimsby’s goal] came at a time that put a little bit of pressure on us, but we saw it out after that moment and were impressive throughout defensively.

"I thought that the lads deserved the three points, their goal was their first real shot on target. Every other dangerous-looking moment just got nullified quickly by the intensity of our defending.”

Saturday’s victory lifts Harrogate up to 14th position in the League Two standings, where they now sit just five points shy of a play-off spot.