Harrogate Town opinion: Lack of goals and wins at home starting to put fans off

Harrogate Town supporter Dave Worton's latest weekly fan column.
Harrogate Town supporter Dave Worton, left, with his daughter Molly outside the EnviroVent Stadium.Harrogate Town supporter Dave Worton, left, with his daughter Molly outside the EnviroVent Stadium.
Harrogate Town supporter Dave Worton, left, with his daughter Molly outside the EnviroVent Stadium.

It was panning out to be rather a good afternoon after all, despite the circumstances, as the roar floated over on the breeze and through my open window from the direction of Wetherby Road, narrowly beating Radio York’s Barry Parker to the punch.

Barely four minutes in, Harrogate Town were one goal to the good against a seemingly poor Colchester and threatening to run riot.

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It appeared that our important win at Scunthorpe the week before had galvanised the players.

I slammed the window shut. Although it was a rare treat for me to hear a proper big Football League crowd noise from the direction of the ground – it used to be just shouts from the players, the referee’s whistle and the noise of the tannoy in the olden days – it didn’t help with my anticipation of the commentary.

Also, I so desperately wanted to be there. Legally there was nothing stopping me of course, but morally... I’d tested positive for Covid-19 on the Thursday evening, after initially thinking I just had a minor cold.

Luckily my unwitting attempts to infect other people in the days leading up to the positive test had failed, but I wasn’t going to attempt to infect people wittingly.

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So, here I was, stuck at home in isolation, longing to be part of that crowd noise, but knowing that if having to miss Town at home is the worst Covid has to offer me, I should consider myself very fortunate.

Besides, it was kind of self-inflicted, as I’d attended my first gig for over two years a few days before and it had turned into a bit of a super-spreader event.

I needn’t have bothered with shutting the window though. There was precious little to cheer from then on in, as it all went downhill and Town’s lean run of home form continued.

The lightning start to the game evaporated and Town did the exact opposite of what guest co-commentator Josh Falkingham said they needed to do, which was capitalise whilst on top and then shut up shop at the back. The visitors did exactly both of those things, of course.

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As the second half commentary stagnated together with the match, Parker alluded to Town attacking their favoured hospital end of the ground, or the Kop end to you and me.

This got me thinking. Was that really the case this season? Had attacking towards this end really helped the team?

My perception is of sparse pickings towards the Kop this season against well-organised teams defending from the half-way line so, with lots of spare time on my hands, I spent the Saturday evening doing a wee bit of research whilst Saturday Night Takeaway droned on in the background.

As much as I think Ant and Dec are consummate professionals, and very funny with it, the new series seems to have stagnated somewhat. A little bit like Town actually.

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I looked at all 24 league and cup matches played at Wetherby Road this season. In total Town have scored 36 goals.

Take away thirteen goals against rock-bottom Scunthorpe, a similarly poor Oldham, Newcastle United Under-21s and National League Wrexham and you have a paltry 23 goals in 20 games against League Two opposition.

The fact that only 14 of these 36 Town goals have been scored at the Kop end tells its own story, and confirmed my worst suspicions.

Furthermore, we‘ve witnessed only five home league victories this season, two of those in the first two matches, so even allowing for 1 in 13 isolating like myself, it was no surprise the crowd dipped below 2,000 on Saturday.

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Two home league wins this year, and none now for six games, is proving to be a difficult watch for many people.

Nevertheless, these things happen in football and I continue to live in hope.

Our bogey team, an in-form, play-off-seeking Salford City are up next and I’m looking forward to it already.

Win, lose or draw, a trip to Manchester city centre and then on to the match certainly beats being stuck in the house. I’d prefer the win though.

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