Harrogate Town 1 Chesterfield FC 2: Simon Weaver will 'beat himself up' over Spireites' late winner
Simon Weaver admitted that he will go home and “beat himself up” over the decision which led to Chesterfield netting a late winner against his Harrogate Town side.
With Saturday’s League Two clash level at 1-1, the Sulphurites boss substituted centre-half Tom Bradbury for Bobby Faulkner directly before the corner kick from which Chey Dunkley headed home what proved to be a decisive goal.
Second best during the first half, Town improved after the break and, having got back on terms when Stephen Duke-McKenna cancelled out Ronan Darcy’s early opener, Weaver felt that they were in the ascendancy heading into the closing stages.
Thus, although Dunkley was not the man whom Faulkner was responsible for marking, Harrogate’s manager says he takes “full responsibility” for the outcome of the match after opting to make that change when he did.
"To concede from a set-piece when I thought that we were in the ascendancy is quite disappointing,” Weaver told BBC Radio York.
"It wasn’t Bobby’s man, nor would it have been Bradders’, who scored, however I will beat myself up because a decision was made and then the next delivery, one of their players has scored a header.
"I swapped him positionally in the zone for Bradders, who went off, so I will beat myself up tonight and tomorrow about that, but to be fair to Bobby, he is awesome in the air and he attacks everything.
"But, still, it was a decision that I could have waited until after the corner to make, so I’ll take that one and I’ll take that to my bed tonight knowing that it could have been delayed until after the corner kick was taken.”
Unbeaten in all of their previous six meetings with Chesterfield, Town fell behind at Wetherby Road with just six minutes on the clock when Darcy struck after the home defence failed to deal with a long ball down the middle of the pitch.
And, in truth, they could have been further behind by the interval, with Dylan Duffy and Armando Dobra both going close to extending the Spireites’ lead.
Lee Bonis then missed a great chance to make it 2-0 early in the second period, and just 60 seconds later, Shawn McCoulsky teed-up Duke McKenna to fire in his third goal of the season.
With the game finely balanced following that 50th-minute equaliser, both sides had chances to grab a second before Dunkley powered home from Liam Mandeville’s delivery.
On his side’s overall performance, Weaver added: "At times, we were great on the eye and exhilarating to watch. We poured forward in the second half and it was a great response from quite a flat opening 15 minutes.
"We try to start games fast, but today, for some reason, it was a little bit flat. We weren’t shifting the ball quickly enough and we have got to learn from that because we have opened the door [for Chesterfield].
"It was a fairly routine knock down the middle that we haven’t dealt with at all well, and that [first goal] exacerbates the slow start and encourages them, so they grow in confidence.
“Having said that, from 1-0 down, I don’t think we responded too badly. We tried to get back on an even keel and, particularly after half-time, I felt that the energy of the players was there for everyone to see.
"We scored a great goal. It was a great set-up by Shawn and great execution of the finish by Dukey and it set the place alight. But, unfortunately it wasn’t enough and fair play to Chesterfield.”
Saturday’s loss was Town’s first this season and sees them drop to 11th place in the League Two standings with eight points to their name from five matches.