Harrogate Town 2 Grimsby Town 2: Simon Weaver 'very satisfied' with late fightback

The Sulphurites appeared on course for a first defeat at Wetherby Road in nine matches after Kieran Green’s stunning strike from inside his own half and a Jason Svanthorsson blast put the promotion-chasing Mariners in full control.

But, Ellis Taylor’s delightful curling effort halved the deficit in the 85th minute, before Toby Sims’ header from a Taylor corner was deflected in off visiting forward Danny Rose to level matters just moments later.

And Saturday’s result ensures that 20th-placed Town remain nine points clear of the League Two relegation zone with just four games remaining after Morecambe were beaten by Carlisle.

"I’m very satisfied with the second half,” Weaver said.

“I thought that we had a real good go. We never gave in and were never out of sight. As long as we kept it at 2-0 and kept probing and kept trying, I felt that we weren’t out of it.

"Obviously we needed a moment, like they had with their spectacular first goal, and we had that magic moment through Ellis Taylor, who picked out the top corner cutting in on his left foot.

"You felt in the ground then that something could happen. There was long enough and two minutes later we got the equaliser from a good delivery and a good first header that made it problematic for them.”

Happy though he was in the end following that late rescue job, Weaver was far from impressed at the interval.

“Coming in at half-time 2-0 down, we were up against it against a very good team at this level,” he added.

"But, it’s the most furious I have been for some time.

"It was the pure emotion of it. We are proud of the home record, eight unbeaten before today, and I didn’t envisage coming in losing 2-0 having not really laid a glove.

"Physically we have been imposing ourselves on teams for quite some time at home, but I didn’t think we did that in the first half and there was only one dangerous looking ball put into their box.

“But, we did get a reaction from half-time, it was good. There was more positivity.”

While Town were battling back to salvage a share of the spoils against Grimsby, the two sides directly below them played out a 3-3 draw as 21st-placed Tranmere recovered from looking dead and buried to hold 22nd-placed Accrington.

Meanwhile, Morecambe, who began the day second-from-bottom of the pile, lost 2-0 at home to Carlisle, dropping beneath their opponents to the foot of the table in the process.