Harrogate Town 1 AFC Fylde 4: 'Poor moments' see Sulphurites dumped out of FA Cup
Simon Weaver blamed “poor moments” at the back and a lack of ruthlessness in the final third for Harrogate Town’s FA Cup first-round exit at the hands of AFC Fylde.
Despite taking an early lead through the fit-again Will McGowan, the Sulphurites ultimately ended up on the wrong end of a 4-1 score-line on Saturday afternoon.
And, while there was some decent football played at times and plenty of goal-scoring opportunities created, the hosts simply did not show enough quality when it really mattered.
"It’s not a performance of devastation,” Weaver told BBC Radio York. “There was a lot of good stuff, but I don’t want to be deemed as letting the players get away with it.
"I thought that we started really well. We were a goal to the good and wanted to go for Fylde’s throats, but we gifted them a goal at the start of the second half.
"We had probably our best spell before they scored [their second goal], and then they broke away another couple of times, so the score-line probably flattered them.
"But, to be fair, they deserved the win because they dispatched their chances ever so well, while we had poor moments defensively and weren’t ruthless enough in attack.
"It’s about, when you get into the final third, making good decisions and being a good footballer. It’s about staying in the moment and being able to put teams to the sword.”
With just nine minutes on the clock, Michael Craig won possession in midfield and played in McGowan, who beat George Pickford one-on-one.
That opening goal was cancelled by Luca Thomas just after the quarter-of-an-hour mark, but Town were not deterred by that setback and continued to threaten throughout the first half.
Ciaran McGuckin saw an effort deflected wide, before on-loan Everton goalkeeper Pickford made two fine saves to thwart Morgan Williams and then Josh Hmami.
Harrogate continued to press for a second goal after the interval, but ended up falling behind after an hour when an attempted clearance was lashed home inside the box by Aaron Drewe.
Dylan Allen-Hadley then went down inside the box and Fylde were awarded a soft penalty, which Tom Whelan converted, before Millar Matthews-Lewis rounded off the scoring late on.
Reflecting on the decision to award the 78th-minute spot kick, which effectively sealed Town’s fate, Weaver said: "On first viewing, I think it’s extremely harsh on Cassy [Lewis Cass], who did the right thing by showing their player down the line.”
Despite Saturday’s defeat, the Sulphurites still banked £15,800 in prize money, though they missed out on the £47,750 that goes to the winner.