Harrogate Town: 'The match was gone and I stayed more out of duty than hope'

I went with a couple of friends and we stood in the home enclosure, staring in disbelief at the ten-foot high cage encasing barely thirty visiting supporters on the away terracing. This was pre-Hillsborough, of course.

The game was goal-less until the tenth minute. Barely four minutes later the visiting Shaymen were four goals to the good and we were reduced, as neutrals, to laughter bought about by disbelief as the home team fell apart before our very eyes.

The home fans? Well after Saturday and the visit of Newport County, I now know exactly how they must have felt that very same evening.

Town’s calamitous first half collapse stunned me to virtual silence and I’ve been walking around in a state of stunned disbelief ever since. Some things, once seen, just can’t be unseen. Normally I’d try and blank it out as if it never happened, but it did, I’ve got to write about it and I don’t know where to start.

On the match ‘highlights’ you can hear the Newport bench shouting, ‘you’ve got to put the squeeze on’ and that’s exactly what their front players Nevers and Bogle did. They shut Town down, refused to let them pass freely, picked our hesitation off and finished clinically.

The first goal was a catalogue of horrors. There was no pressure or ‘squeeze’ on the Newport players in their defensive half as we half-heartedly stood off their defenders in possession. One quick ball into the space on the wing turned defence into attack, bypassing our advanced wing-half Ramsay and an out-of-position Welch-Hayes. Ferguson was out-muscled by Bogle, Welch-Hayes was caught in two minds and Jameson beaten at his near post.

The second, third and fourth goals were even worse: all the result of Town cheaply conceding possession under the high press from the visitors, with the central defensive three pulled all over the place and unable to pick up the spare runner. ‘We used to do this to other teams,’ I found myself thinking. The score will be whatever Newport want it to be,’ stated the bloke next to me. I couldn’t argue with his observation or my own thoughts.

Half-time saw a small exodus of home fans and I must admit thinking about it for the first time ever. Not that I would leave before the end of course, I’m too tight for that, but the match was already gone and I stayed more out of duty than hope. One attendee was given to posting on Twitter that, ‘this wasn’t even worth the free ticket’. Free ticket? Is this what we’ve resorted to to boost attendances seven matches in? And when do I, as a season ticket holder, get to see my free match ticket?

The second half was tedious, not a lot happened and I found myself liking posts about homemade jam on Facebook at one stage, before dragging myself back to reality. It was an improvement on the first half certainly, as the manager’s decision to change formation to a conventional back four, whilst bringing on Burrell and Richards, steadied the ship.

That said, Newport had settled for just the four of their own by this stage. There’s no doubt in my mind that we need to move away from the cautious three central defenders approach and get players up the pitch more, otherwise it may prove to be be a very long season ahead.

Yet despite the tale of defensive woe, there are other big concerns lurking.

The sheer lack of a goal threat is worrying. Having not travelled to Gillingham, this was the fourth match in a row for me where Town had drawn a blank and not looked remotely like scoring, even when presented with a rare opening. Our approach play often seems laboured and we’re lacking in width and pace up front.

Having hit the ground running, Luke Armstrong has been struggling for goals for most of this year. I see him as a poacher, as someone who needs to be in and around the penalty area with someone else up alongside him and a steady flow of crosses to convert, not someone left to fight for high balls with his back to goal or chasing long balls into the wings.

The turn of the year coincided with Town reverting to a back five with three central defenders, since then he’s often been left to plough a lonely furrow up front on his own and that can’t help his confidence.

There was a great deal made of how Simon Weaver had taught him to be more selective with when to press and when to conserve his energy on his arrival. Now he’s being run into the ground for scant reward and we have no cover if he’s injured, having off-loaded three central strikers pre-season and not adequately replaced them.

Just as concerning was the total lack of atmosphere inside the home section of the ground, as we were out-sung by the visiting fans. Whilst the players gave us nothing to cheer, this lack of atmosphere was evident even before the goals started to rain in. The Kop has lost its spark this season. The old guard who used to sing have either dispersed around the ground or stopped attending, as the young kids have taken over.

Now even the young ‘uns aren’t there in any numbers. It might have been partly due to Leeds Fest, it may be partly down to increased prices for U18s, some of them may have been barred for swearing at the referee (but that’s a tale for another time) or it may just be a temporary blip. Whatever the reasons, and I’m no longer down with the kids so I don’t know, we sorely need a choir back together to raise the volume in the ground and to lift the players.

One possible barrier to this is that supporters can no longer move freely into different stands once they’ve purchased a ticket for a certain area, so everything may remain fractured in the short term. Let’s hope not, as the team is going to need us fans this season more than ever.