Harrogate Town lose two more players to season-ending injuries

Central midfielder Ben Fox and left-back Liam Gibson had to be replaced during the first half of Saturday’s 3-1 home defeat to Notts County having pulled up with muscular issues.

And although the full extent of the damage is still to be discovered, Town boss Simon Weaver already knows that the severity will rule both men out of his team’s final-day-of-the season trip to bottom-of-the-table Morecambe.

That will leave Harrogate rather low on numbers over on the Lancashire coast with as many as eight first-team players potentially unavailable for selection.

The midfield trio of George Thomson, Levi Sutton and Tom Hill have been on the club’s long-term casualty list for some time, while fellow midfielder Dean Cornelius and defenders Warren Burrell and Toby Sims are all doubts having missed out against Notts.

“They are not doing very well at all,” Weaver said of Fox and Gibson. "They’ll be ruled out for next week without a doubt.

"They have both felt things go. So, thank goodness Saturday is the last game because we are running out of players fast.”

Saturday’s injury comes as a real blow for 28-year-old Gibson, who was making his first start since early October, having struggled to stay fit over the course of the season.

“It is desperately disappointing for him because he was in charge, wasn’t he,” Weaver added. “He’s such a good player.”

Gibson began 2024/25 injured, then having worked his way back to fitness and returned to action in late August, suffered another hamstring issue which sidelined him for six months.

The former Newcastle United defender recovered in time to take his place on the substitutes bench against Accrington on March 1, but has had to bide his time in recent weeks making just one brief substitute appearance against Stanley prior to being handed a start at the weekend.

With his contract due to expire this summer, game-time during Town’s last couple of fixtures could potentially have gone someway to influencing whether or not Gibson remains at Wetherby Road beyond the end of the current campaign.

He made 34 appearances (30 starts) during his first year at the club having signed from Morecambe, but has managed just 11 this term, with four of those coming from the bench.

Fox, meanwhile, has had to endure an injury-plagued couple of years and joined Harrogate from League One Northampton in January having spent a significant period of time on the sidelines prior to completing that transfer.

But, although it has taken him some time to work his way back to full fitness and he missed March’s goalless draw at Port Vale with a dead leg, the 27-year-old has featured in every other game and played a key role in the club’s successful fight against relegation.

In total, he has made 14 appearances since signing for the Sulphurites, with 13 of those being starts.