Harrogate Town 0 Blackburn Rovers 8: ‘Gulf in class’ was too much for Sulphurites during 'embarrassing' Carabao Cup defeat

Harrogate Town manager Simon Weaver. Picture: Matt Kirkham

Simon Weaver opted to praise Blackburn Rovers for the quality of their football during Wednesday night’s 8-0 rout of his Harrogate Town side, rather than kick his own players while they are down.

The Sulphurites boss conceded that there was no defending such an “embarrassing” margin of defeat, but said he felt that their Championship opponents were “different class” over the course of what was a harrowing 90 minutes for the host club.

And he went on to explain that he made eight changes from Saturday’s League Two victory over Morecambe out of necessity rather than a desire to rotate his squad.

"I can’t defend an embarrassing score-line like that,” he said. "You could see the gulf in class was huge on the night, but it is between Championship and League Two level.

Harrogate Town forward Jack Muldoon fails to get the better of Blackburn goalkeeper Leo Wahlstedt. Picture: Harrogate Town AFC

"I don't think we've played a club of that stature and quality, zipping it around like that before. I thought they were different class.

"And we were missing a few big players that would have made us a bit more competitive, but we had to rest a few from the start just to make sure they were right for Saturday [against Barrow] after they took a few bangs at the weekend.

"It was disappointing because of the first 30 minutes and the fact it ran away from us in the second half.

"We weren't compact enough and, no matter what we did, how we tried to tweak it to a 4-5-1 to try and stem the flow and restore pride, they had an answer to that because they have top Championship quality, were full of confidence – and the game had gone.”

Asked whether his players’ heads dropped as Rovers ran riot in the second period, Weaver was quick to dismiss any suggestion that Town had “capitulated”.

He said: "Of course you are hoping for a better score-line than 8-0, you want to make it a real cup final.

"But I don't think it's always about saying, 'you were an absolute disgrace.' None of us were good enough tonight, we were well short in that first period and when you come in at half-time 4-0 down, the players are going to be disappointed.

"In the second half, a couple did let their heads go down but I wouldn't say that it was capitulation en-masse.

"You are only as strong as your weakest link and we had a couple of weaker links on the night. We got caught ball-watching, we got caught the wrong side a number of times and it was all a bit too much for a few – and that’s all it takes.

"The chances were free-flowing for Blackburn and we have got to do better the next time we have an opportunity against a team of that caliber.”

A crowd of 2,653 turned out to watch Wednesday’s second-round clash, the vast majority of whom will surely have been extremely disappointed by what was served up by Town’s players.

On whether he felt he and his team had missed an opportunity to sell themselves to a bigger audience than they usually attract for league fixtures, Weaver replied: "Yes, but that is football, and there are 50 games in a season, so there will be more opportunities.

"Obviously we go home very disappointed in ourselves, but as honest as the day is long, and we know that we came up short on every level.

"We played two up front and there were moments in the first half to score, but we didn’t. I don’t think we would have created those chances if we hadn’t tried to be positive tactically.

"In the second half, we tried to stem the flow of goals by bulking up the midfield, but they were still too quick and too sharp on what is a really good pitch.

"So, yeah, it’s a missed opportunity in front of a good crowd, but we’ll bounce back up tomorrow.”

Both of those chances to reduce the deficit which Weaver referred to fell to Jack Muldoon with the score at 2-0 and then 3-0.

One-on-one with Rovers goalkeeper Leo Wahlstedt, the Town forward fired against the visiting custodians legs on the first occasion then shot narrowly wide of the mark having been played in by the raiding Abraham Odoh.

"I think it probably does make a bit of a difference if those opportunities are taken,” Weaver continued.

"For a start, it doesn’t end up 8-0 because you’ve at least scored a couple.

"Goals do change games, so I think possibly it’s different, but we gifted them four goals before half-time and you cannot afford to do that against a side of this quality.

"But, credit to Blackburn, they’ve given us a good beating.”