Harrogate Town boss Simon Weaver takes Stevenage FC's negative approach 'as a compliment'

The Hertforshire outfit set up in a 4-5-1 formation, keeping 10 men behind the ball whenever their hosts were in possession, making it extremely difficult for them to build any kind of attacking momentum.

The second period saw Boro happy to time-waste in between punting a succession of aimless long balls deep into home territory, but ultimately Alex Revell's tactics worked and his team left North Yorkshire with the point which they very clearly came for.

Weaver, however, refused to criticise Stevenage for their negative approach, instead stating that he took their game-plan "as a compliment."

He told the Harrogate Advertiser: "It's credit to them that they got numbers back, their centre-halves fought and won their battles all night and obviously their set up has got them a clean-sheet.

"I take it as a compliment, but it is frustrating when you don't end up winning the game. It would have been really satisfying if we had managed to find a way through but sometimes you have to give credit to the opposition if they come and spoil the party - which you would try and do if you hadn't won in seven games.

"They're on the back of a poor run of results and they needed a point tonight and they deserved it, but I also think that we need to perform better.

"It was evident from the first moment that Stevenage had come for a point and because of that you've got to play with the pace and conviction to get you over the line. If it's not going for you then you have to try and force a mistake by pure energy and we lacked that top-end energy.

"It wasn't by any stretch of the imagination a typical Harrogate Town performance of energy and enterprise, so I'm disappointed. We needed to show more than we did."

Tuesday's result sees Town slip two place in the League Two standings from sixth down to eighth.