'Gritty' Harrogate Town didn't need to 'pretend to be FC Barcelona' during Grimsby Town stalemate

The Sulphurites edged a point further away from the League Two relegation zone courtesy of a goalless draw in a game in which their hosts made most of the running.

While the Mariners managed to move the ball around fairly effectively on a difficult playing surface and created a number of decent scoring opportunities, Weaver’s men struggled to find any kind of fluency in possession and never really threatened the home goal.

The Harrogate chief was however pleased that his side’s no-nonsense, pragmatic approach paid dividends, stressing that now is not the time to be trying to deliver total football.

"I think we deserved the draw, we were gritty from minute one and this is a valuable point," Weaver reflected.

"We know that we can do more on the ball, but it is between the ears that. We know that they have got the ability and we back the lads, but we also have to understand that when people are under pressure, it becomes a bit more like a hot potato at times.

"But, what we have to be proud of is that they didn't get too down on themselves and there was still that willingness to make sure that we were a compact unit and still defensively really good.

"I said to the lads don't be too downbeat about the performance on the ball, it's a gritty point, very valuable. The confidence will breed confidence on the ball and that's when you start purring a bit.

"But, you can't fight your way out of trouble in League Two by pretending to be Barcelona and playing 500 passes. This is not the time for that, it's the time for being compact, gritty, horrible in terms of out-of-possession work and one-in-all-in."

Tuesday’s result means that Harrogate are now unbeaten in their last three matches and have lost just one of their previous five League Two outings.

And a draw sees them climb back above Gillingham and into 20th position, where they sit four points ahead of second-from-bottom Crawley.