Harrogate Town striker Luke Armstrong receives vote of confidence from manager Simon Weaver

The 26-year-old forward has started all 10 of the Sulphurites’ League Two games this season in the number nine role, but found the back of the net just once thus far.

That strike, a penalty during a 2-1 defeat at Sutton United in early September, is his only goal in his last 17 appearances for the club in all competitions (15 starts).

But, Weaver insists that Armstrong remains one of the best in his position in the division and believes that while his recent form hasn’t been great, class is permanent.

"I believe that Luke Armstrong is one of the best centre-forwards at this level of football,” Weaver told the Harrogate Advertiser.

"He is a top-class professional and a top lad. He’s one of the best we’ve ever had at the club, so we back him.

"Strikers can go a long time without scoring goals at all levels of the game. Just look at Son [Heung-min] at Spurs the other week. He hadn’t scored for a number of games then he comes good again with a hat-trick in one half of football and he’s up and running again.

"Luke is a player we believe can score plenty of goals at this level, which is why we offered him a three-year contract in the summer. He’s someone we want here for the long-term.

"He maybe just needs one to go in off his backside or his knee or his shin and I’m sure more will follow.”

As unfruitful as the last 17 games may have been for Armstrong, a delve into the statistics that stretch back beyond that point does not provide much better reading.

The former Salford City frontman undoubtedly made a superb start to life at Wetherby Road, though his form during the current calendar year has been far from stand-out.

His first six appearances of 2021/22 yielded five goals and two assists. By November, his record was still a very impressive nine in 16 matches.

And, although he netted with an extremely accomplished finish during December’s FA Cup upset of League One Portsmouth, he went 13 league games without registering between mid-November and mid-February.

Bagging just four goals after the turn of the year to finish last season with a total of 14 strikes in 50 outings in all competitions means that his previous 46 Town appearances (44 starts) have seen him notch only six times.

But, Weaver does not believe that this lack of goals has particularly dented Armstrong’s confidence, and went on to say that he feels that the service into the spearhead of his attack needs to be better.

"Luke is a lad who comes in and he’s always upbeat, so I think he is okay,” he added.

"He is so low maintenance, and he always works hard in training. Like I say, he is a top professional.

"In open play, from out wide, the deliveries haven’t been good enough for Luke. I think that we could feed him more.”

Armstrong began the season leading the line in a 3-4-2-1 system but has been deployed as the central striker in a 4-3-3 formation for Town’s last three matches.

His spot-kick at Sutton is the only goal that he or anyone else at the club has scored in six games – or more than 10.5 hours of football – and while Harrogate’s lack of cutting edge on the whole is worrying enough, what is more concerning is the paucity of chances their main attacking threat is being supplied with.

He fed almost entirely off scraps during Saturday’s 1-0 loss at Stevenage, and while he had a couple of half-chances against Stockport seven days earlier, he was also starved of anything resembling decent service when the Sulphurites hosted Salford City 13 days ago.

And, although the work-rate and commitment of a player who had won more aerial duels (79) than anyone else in League Two prior to Town’s trip to Stevenage cannot be questioned, Armstrong’s effectiveness as part of a 4-3-3 formation is less obvious.

Weaver, however, is confident that the ex-Middlesbrough hitman can thrive in any system.

"I think that Luke can and will score goals in a 4-3-3,” he continued.

"Look at last season, one of our best performances was at Leyton Orient where we played 4-3-3 and Luke scored twice.

"I believe that he can score goals and help this team in any formation that we line up in.”

Re-visiting the subject of Town’s collective issues in front of goal having seen his team fail to score out of 12 games, Weaver continued: “Our quality has to improve in the final third, there is no doubt about that.

"We are still making a conscious effort to try and get as many men into the opposition box as possible, but I think it's become a confidence issue when it comes to that final ball.

"Too often we're ramming crosses to the near post, rather than getting our heads up and finding that pull back or hanging one up to the back stick.

"We need to do better, we need to keep creating chances, create even more chances. And, we might just need one to go in off someone's backside to get us up and running again.

"We've had to evolve the team. We needed to tighten things up at the back and now we've got a group who are going through that gelling process. It's about finding the right balance, finding solutions and continuing to work hard to get better, but we back these lads in the final third."