Harrogate Town opinion: Sulphurites starting to look like more of a complete package

If there’s one criticism to be made of Harrogate Town since New Year, it would revolve around their struggle to create chances and score goals - an affliction I put down to poor ball retention a couple of weeks ago.

No one can fault the effort the players have put in and the new look defence has been immense during this time. It’s possibly the best defensive set-up I’ve seen at Town and the acquisition of Levi Sutton in midfield adds a bite we’ve been lacking in that area for a while.

Where we’ve been falling down is what we do when we gain possession, or rather what we don’t do. All of that changed in a marvellous second half showing on a chilly Doncaster Tuesday night.

Yet the evidence of a goal-less first half in South Yorkshire had seemed to point in the same direction as the two previous solid, hard-fought, low-scoring home draws.

Northampton on the previous Tuesday night was a curiously muted affair inside Wetherby Road. It almost seemed as if the Town fans were expecting to witness defeat against a team in the top four and the huge cheer on the referee’s whistle at the end, as tired Town legs withstood a late onslaught, told its own tale of a welcome point well-received.

I think most Sulphurites supporters, certainly those based in the real world anyway, understand the achievements of a team punching well above its weight in the big boys’ league.

The Gillingham game, on the other hand, looked like a relegation six-pointer that we needed to win. Yet if you factor in the Kent side’s stats of six wins in nine games heading into Saturday’s contest, this also turned out to be a very good point gained.

It wasn’t pretty at times, but the home crowd found its voice once again, a couple of positive attacking substitutions got Town up the pitch in the final moments and we could easily have won it if we’d stuck one of our chances away.

So it was we found ourselves in South Yorkshire, a couple of points further away from the relegation spots, doggedly hoping we could inch a point further away still.

I know you’re supposed to concentrate on your own results, but with seemingly-doomed Rochdale beating Stevenage at the weekend, Hartlepool improving slightly under new manager John Askey and Crawley having two games in hand with Town due there on Saturday, things are still far too close for comfort.

What happened in the second period was as beautiful as it was unexpected. Harrogate dictated the entire half: out-tackling, out-running and eventually PASSING THROUGH a disorganised home team drained of confidence and barracked by its disgruntled supporters.

Luke Armstrong hit the nail on the head last week when he stated that all the team needed was a little more belief. Here you could see that belief flowing back into the veins of every player and, lo and behold, bravery on the ball eventually led to two late goals.

He’ll be the first to admit he made a couple of errors with his starting line-up post-New Year, but Tuesday evening saw a tactical masterclass from manager Simon Weaver.

I’d despaired at a recent home match when the play went consistently down the left wing, leaving Kazeem Olaigbe with his pace and trickery isolated on the right. Tonight Doncaster couldn’t cope with him running at them in a central attacking position.

The positive substitution of Alex Pattison was made at the right time, turning the match in Town’s favour from a solid draw into a precious three points.

And so we head to Crawley on Saturday for a real relegation six-pointer with the pressure seemingly all on the home side. It’ll be another tough battle, but if the Town players can focus and perform like they did on Tuesday night, we can really put some daylight between ourselves and the bottom two.