Harrogate Town Under-18s suffer 'cruel' FA Youth Cup defeat to Stockport County

The Sulphurites’ academy side went down 2-1 at home to Stockport County on Tuesday evening having taken an early lead through Finn O'Boyle.

But, having been pegged back before half-time, Town conceded at the death in front of a crowd of more than 300 people at Wetherby Road.

And, although naturally disappointed by the result, Stansfield admitted that his side "came up a little bit short" on the night.

Harrogate’s academy chief reflected: "I was gutted for the lads when Stockport scored in the last minute, they were a bit upset in the changing room afterwards because there is no crueller way to lose a game of football.

"But, it obviously wasn't meant to be. We played alright, and the lads worked their socks off. There were some excellent performances on the night, but collectively we just came up a little bit short.

"Stockport had some really good players, however there were areas where we could have exploited them. We didn't do enough to try and win the game at 1-1.

"We didn't quite reach the level that we have been hitting consistently in our recent league games, but that's just football. We'll learn from this experience and be better for it."

O’Boyle fired Town Under-18s ahead with a left-footed strike after just three minutes, but Ashton Mee drew Stockport level half-an-hour later.

Then, with the tie seemingly destined for extra-time, Luke Partington dribbled into the home box before slotting home the winning goal.