Harrogate Town 3 Grimsby Town 3: Simon Weaver focuses on positives despite seeing Sulphurites throw away two-goal lead
Simon Weaver refused to be too critical of his Harrogate Town side despite seeing them throw away a two-goal advantage in the latter stages of Saturday’s League Two clash with Grimsby.
The Sulphurites led 3-1 at Wetherby Road with 84 minutes on the clock but failed to see the game out and back up their opening-day success at Bristol Rovers.
Following a goalless opening half, Reece Smith broke the deadlock with a precise low finish early in the second period, only for Charles Vernam to draw the Mariners level on 68 minutes.
Ellis Taylor would however restore the home lead from the penalty spot soon afterwards, before substitute Conor McAleny bent in a debut goal to make it 3-1 less than 24 hours after being unveiled as a Town player.
Grimsby’s Harvey Rodgers then struck from distance in the 84th minute to set up a nervy finale, and an equaliser duly arrived in the second minute of stoppage-time when Jaze Kabia raced through to slot past James Belshaw.
But boss Weaver chose to focus on what his players did well in the game, rather than dwell on what might have been.
“To be honest, it was a rollercoaster ride,” he told BBC Radio York. “But, I want to focus on the first 75 minutes of positives, and the fact that we now look like we have goals in us.
"We scored three today and could have scored more, which is the most pleasing aspect.
"We looked creative, we looked sharp. We came out of the blocks against the wind in the first half in particularly strong fashion and caused a good team problems.
"We showed a gritty performance last week and we stepped it up again today. We’ve shown that we have got an attacking edge, and that we can knock the ball about.
"We were trying to score goals, trying to entertain and trying to keep pushing forwards against what is probably going to be one of the elite teams in the league.”
Pleased though he was by Town’s attacking display, Weaver did admit that there are “lessons to be learned” when it comes to seeing a game out, though he stopped short of pointing the finger at individuals.
"To concede that third goal is disappointing, but in the circumstances, it is not always the right thing to blame players,” he added.
"There are lessons to be learned about continuing to show defensive intensity in our defensive third for the last 15 minutes.
“We got the bodies back because they threw everything at us, but sometimes you can have the numbers back but lack intensity because you’re not wanting to give a free-kick away or you are leaving it for someone else.
"We have got to learn from those moments. We will show the lads the video analysis on Monday and we will be better for that.”
Saturday’s draw with Grimsby means that Town have taken four points from their first two fixtures of the 2025/26 season and sit eighth in the League Two table.