Harrogate Town 1 Carlisle United 0: Last-gasp winner provides Simon Weaver with 'best moment'

With the game seemingly set to end in stalemate, Ellis Taylor’s last-gasp, edge-of-the-box volley was deflected into his own net by visiting substitute Josh Vela to hand the Sulphurites a crucial three points in their quest for League Two survival.

And Weaver could not hide his delight after the full-time whistle, having seen that late goal move his team 11 points clear of the relegation zone.

"It was just a magic moment,” Weaver said. “It’s one of the best moments I have had for ages.

"We knew that we might just have a chance that fell our way if we just kept battling. We trust the players to be relentless and sometimes you get your rewards from pure attitude.

"We had one more moment in front of goal and capitalised on it. By hook or by crook, it’s ended up in the bottom corner.

"We keep saying ‘don’t be shot-shy’. Sometimes it ends up going in off someone’s backside or heel. I think it was a heel this time, but so what? The feeling is the same as if it went in the top corner from 30 yards. It won us the game.”

Town headed into Saturday’s contest at Wetherby Road knowing that defeat to Carlisle would cut the gap between them and the division’s bottom side to seven points, with the Cumbrians having played a game less.

Victory has however seen Harrogate move 13 points ahead of their opponents, and extend their advantage over second-from-bottom Morecambe to 11.

And the significance of the outcome was not lost on Weaver

"We are in a dogfight, so it’s a massive result,” he added. "It’s enormous because of where Carlisle are in the table and because of where we are.

"It was important not to go gung-ho. We knew that we had to stay in the game, while trying to win it at the same time. We had to box clever. It was about not making errors, defending well and grinding it out.

“I think it was a great performance in terms of character and being resilient and digging in. We had to defend well, and make last-ditch blocks and tackles and there were some big moments from James Belshaw.

"It was an old-school game between two teams who knew that the stakes were high. So, I’m buzzing to get the winner right at the death.”

Carlisle created arguably the best chance of the first half, captain Sam Lavelle shooting straight at James Belshaw from close range as Town failed to clear their lines following a corner.

The Sulphurites’ brightest moment came just before the interval, man of the match Ben Fox driving into the box and pulling the ball back from close to the left-hand byline for Taylor to flick a delightful into the body of visiting goalkeeper Gabe Breeze.

Carlisle then spurned another fine opportunity to break the deadlock shortly after the resumption, Terell Thomas swivelling and lashing a shot over the cross-bar from just yards out when Town were again unable to properly defend a set-piece.

At the other end, Jasper Moon’s header and Bryn Morris’ curling effort forced Breeze into a couple of good stops.

With 94 minutes on the clock, United came close to getting their noses in front as Archie Davies sneaked in at the back post to meet a hanging left-wing cross and was thwarted by the legs of Belshaw.

Less than 60 seconds later, Toby Sims’ long throw-in was nodded clear, but landed perfectly on the left edge of the penalty area for Taylor to let fly with a strike which changed course quite drastically after catching the unfortunate Vela.

Town, who have now won five and drawn three of their eight League Two meetings with Carlisle, remain 20th in the table following Saturday’s win, but extended the gap between themselves and the drop zone by a further two points.