Harrogate Town v Exeter City: Sulphurites have blueprint for beating Grecians, says Simon Weaver, but hard work is the key

Harrogate Town's players celebrate Jack Muldoon's second-half winner against Exeter City at St James' Park. Pictures: Matt Kirkham

The two sides meet at the EnviroVent Stadium on Tuesday night, just over a month on from the Sulphurites’ 2-1 victory in Devon.

And, while the Harrogate boss is expecting another tough test when his team entertains a side he classes to be one of the very best in the division, he believes that Town’s players can take plenty of confidence from the job they did on the Grecians at St James’ Park.

“Exeter are a good, good team. Games in this division don’t come much tougher, but I do feel that we can get a positive result if we produce a similar level of performance to the one we saw down there,” Weaver told the Harrogate Advertiser.

Brendan Kiernan netted Town's first goal in last month's success over the Grecians.

“Our success that night was based on winning first and second balls, on working so hard, playing with real energy and also being brave and playing on the front foot whenever we could.

“No matter what shape we set up in this time around, we need to match what we did down in Exeter and work very, very hard.

“We are going to have to battle hard, but we are a team of scrappers, so it’s certainly not beyond us.”

Due to their last four home fixtures all being called off, Town have not completed a game at Wetherby Road since December 19’s 1-0 defeat to Salford City.

Prior to that reverse, they had lost four out of five in all competitions in their own back yard, and have taken just five points from the 21 on offer in matches staged at the EnviroVent Stadium this term.

Quite clearly, their home form is something which needs to be addressed, and quickly, however Weaver doesn’t believe that his team is a million miles away from starting to secure better results.

“We’ve had some really good results away from home, we just need to overcome the obstacle of winning games at home,” added the Town boss, whose side currently sit 18th in the League Two standings.

“I don’t believe that we are far away. We’re not far off as a team, there’s certainly no crisis.

“It is just about delivering the kind of performances that we produced away at Exeter and at Oldham Athletic on a more consistent basis.”

Kick-off between Town and Exeter on Tuesday evening is at 6.30pm.