Harrogate Town 1 Gainsborough Trinity 0: Sulphurites' approach helped them avoid FA Cup upset

Dean Cornelius’ second-half header proved sufficient to settle Friday night’s contest in front of live television cameras, preventing the League Two Sulphurites suffering an upset at the hands of the lowest-ranked team left in the competition.

Conquerors of League One high-flyers Wrexham in round one, Town avoided becoming victims of a cup shock themselves thanks to a thoroughly professional, high-intensity performance.

They created enough chances to have won the game by a more comfortable margin and never really looked in any real danger of conceding at the other end.

And Weaver said he was confident that his side would progress to the third round for just the second time in their history given what he had witnessed in the build up to the game.

“I could tell yesterday [in training] and by the way they arrived today, that the players were up for it,” the Harrogate boss explained.

“There was no way you were going to get Harrogate Town being sloppy and being arrogant, simple as that.

“I was confident, but we were never taking it for granted, and it's the same with everybody in the building. It was just a case of getting over the line.

“We've got good team spirit, there was good creativity in the side, a good tempo and we didn't prevaricate with the ball, we weren't slow with it as we didn't want to invite trouble.

“We would have loved to have knocked five or six in, but Gainsborough put up such a good fight after a brilliant cup run themselves, so we're delighted to overcome them in the end.”

Three divisions and 73 places separate the teams, and although there was little between them in terms of the final score, Town were much the better side throughout.

They created a host of decent first-half chances in front of the BBC Two cameras, with Jack Muldoon, James Daly, Josh March and Stephen Duke-McKenna all coming close to opening the scoring.

The Sulphurites did eventually force a deserved breakthrough in the 57th minute after man of the match Duke McKenna’s raid down the right set up March to sting the palms of Trinity goalkeeper Dylan Wharton.

The ball then broke for Daly, who crossed from the left flank for Cornelius to send a close-range header inside the far post.

With nothing to lose, Gainsborough became a little more adventurous during the closing stages and managed to force Town back inside their own half.

But although they finished the game in the ascendancy, the Holy Blues were unable to seriously test James Belshaw.

On his side’s overall performance, Weaver added: “I don't think we need to over-analyse it. I think we could have easily been three or four up in the first half-an-hour.

“Then, if you get that second and third it could be a rout. But it wasn't because we didn't execute the finishes. But, we were patient and we said at half-time, ‘stay with it, keep your foot on the gas, keep being aggressive with the attacking intent’.

“And when we got the first, obviously you want the floodgates to open and get a second, a third, but it wasn't to be, and then it's human nature to be a little bit anxious later on.

“They were starting to win more second balls, going forward a little bit earlier, and then it becomes a bit of a basketball game and we weren't quite as in control as we were, because we were dominant beforehand.

“So then it's a case of just seeing it through, which we did.”