Harrogate Town substitutes praised for their impact in FA Cup triumph over Wrexham AFC

The League Two Sulphurites delivered another lacklustre performance for the first 70 minutes of Saturday's encounter and looked to be heading out of the competition prior to their late rally.

Trailing 1-0 to Jordan Ponticelli's first-half opener, Town laboured against their National League visitors and only really came to life once Weaver opted to switch from a 4-3-3 system to his tried-and-tested 4-4-2.

By that stage, Ryan Fallowfield, Simon Power, Jack Muldoon and Danilo Orsi had all been introduced, with Power and Orsi going on to net the goals which turned the tie on its head.

“The substitutes injected pace and energy and I thought that they were all brilliant. They showed a real desire to impact the game," Weaver told the Harrogate Advertiser.

“We needed that boost. We played with real pace and conviction the last 20 minutes. The pace and the passing in that last 20 was far better than in the 70 before.

“One or two who we left out, they really sprung into action - look at Jack Muldoon with that renewed vigour, he caused real problems for Wrexham.

“Both of the strikers, their link-up play was good. In the case of Danilo, there was real hunger, he was like a coiled spring.

“And, Simon Power. His free-kick, that takes courage to say ‘I’ll have it'. He scared the life out of them.

"It gives us a lot of excitement because it's a proper squad effort."

Although Town ultimately did enough to win the game and secure their progress into the second round, there was plenty wrong with Saturday's performance.

They enjoyed the lion's share of possession, but did very little with it, playing too many hopeful long balls or backwards and sideways passes for well over an hour of the contest.

“Whatever system we play, we have to pass the ball forwards when we can," Weaver added.

"It was a bit too sideways, but I can understand to some extent because we’re saying ‘look after the ball’ and people don’t want to give it away, so sometimes it’s taken too literally.

“When we saw their team-sheet, we knew they would line up 5-4-1, we knew that they would sit behind the ball, and it was difficult to break down.

“Aaron Martin was up front on his own and he couldn’t link too closely with many, but we played two attacking midfielders to try and link play however the way they dropped off made it difficult. There was no space in behind.

“You don’t want to be too rushed, so you’re trying to find that healthy balance between keeping the ball, but still trying to probe and attack and go forwards.

"But, for 70 minutes, we didn’t show enough speed of thought or speed or pass to disorganise them."

Overall, however, Weaver thought that Town were good value for their victory and a place in the hat for Monday night's second round draw.

“I think we deserved the win in the end," he continued.

"We scored two goals but created quite a few more good chances."