Harrogate Town hopeful that Alex Pattison will be fit enough for Crewe Alexandra clash

The 24-year-old scored the Sulphurites’ first goal and then set up their second as they kicked-off the 2022/23 season with an impressive 3-0 victory over Swindon last weekend.

But, he had to be substituted in the 67th minute having sustained a painful blow to his thigh in the process of assisting the Matty Daly strike which put his side 2-0 up shortly after half-time.

Having received treatment on the pitch from Town physio Rachel Davis while his team-mates celebrated doubling their advantage, the former Wycombe Wanderers man was able to play on for just over 10 minutes, before eventually being replaced by Jack Muldoon.

And, while boss Weaver says that the injury is not a serious one, he doesn’t expect Pattison to be fit enough to train again until the end of the week.

“Patto’s dead leg is getting better every day. It was a lot looser by Wednesday than it was at the start of the week,” the Sulphurites chief told the Harrogate Advertiser.

“But, he still hasn’t trained yet and we’ll have to have another look at him and check his progress with a view to him training on Friday.

“It was quite a sore one that he took on the thigh. It is just a dead leg, but to be honest it’s a little bit too close to the knee for comfort.

“So, we’ll have to see, but we hope that he will be okay for Crewe on Saturday because he played very well against Swindon and obviously he is a player who we think will be vital for us this season.”

Pattison has joined team-mates Max Wright, Josh Falkingham, Rory McArdle and Will Smith in Town’s treatment room this week, and while none of those other four players have any chance of featuring against Crewe, Weaver has confirmed that he has no other fresh injury concerns.

On the challenge that he is expecting from an Alex side who were relegated from League One last term and got their season underway with a 2-1 success on the road at Rochdale, Harrogate’s manager added: “They’re quite settled in the 4-2-3-1 system that they play and they’ve got a lot of good players.

“They’ve added some more experience to their group in the summer and have got a strong frontline.

“They’re a real set-piece threat and a good footballing side at the same time, but they’re also not afraid to go direct into their big frontman.

“With them winning away from home last weekend, I expect that we'll be going in there and facing a lively atmosphere, so we are expecting another tough test.

“But, we passed our first test of the season last time out and we’re allowed to go to Crewe feeling positive.”