Harrogate Town v Salford City: Sulphurites new boys will provide more cutting edge

On-loan Huddersfield Town attacker Danny Grant, right, made his Harrogate Town debut from the substitutes' bench at Sutton United. Pictures: Matt Kirkham

Saturday’s home showdown with Carlisle United was postponed after the footballing authorities decided to call-off the entire weekend fixture list as a ‘mark of respect’ to Queen Elizabeth II following her death last week.

Thus, Simon Weaver’s side have had to wait an extra four days for a chance to get their season back on track following a run of four consecutive defeats.

That run of matches has seen Town fail to score a single goal in open play, with their solitary strike in more than six hours of football coming when Luke Armstrong netted from the penalty spot at Sutton United last time out.

Dior Angus came within a few inches of marking his Harrogate Town debut with a goal against Sutton United.

Weaver has moved to try and spark his side into life in the final third, bringing in four new attacking players on transfer deadline day and switching to a 4-4-2 system at Gander Green Lane.

That game saw new signings Dior Angus and Josh Coley handed starts and Danny Grant make a cameo from the bench, while pacy winger Samuel Folarin remained an unused substitute.

Angus made a decent impression up top with Armstrong, hitting the post early on, while Coley really stood out on the right wing, rattling the cross-bar with an audacious effort during what was a display of real promise.

Tuesday’s clash with Salford could mean that Town’s fans get to see more of Grant and a first look at Folarin, with Weaver stating that he plans to make the most of the array of attacking options he now has at his disposal.

“Sam can operate down either side as a winger or through the middle as a striker,” the Harrogate boss said. “He is blessed with bags of pace and is faster than anyone that we have had at this club before.

"Danny Grant is really versatile. He’s a jinky-type winger, can play off either side, anywhere across the front-line or even as an attacking wing-back.

"He’s a player with a lot of quality who can offer us plenty in a number of different areas.”

“We’ve now got competition for places in forward areas from transfer deadline day, so we can keep teams guessing and have plenty of options going forwards.

“They are good characters, all of them, and have come in with a bit of a bounce. It’s added competition for places, which we so badly wanted and we’ve got options to freshen it up.”Town head into Tuesday’s game 19th in League Two and having failed to beat fourth-placed Salford in their nine previous attempts.

“It’s about time we came out on top against Salford, they’ve been a bit of a bogey team in the past,” he added.

“They’ve adopted a different style of play. They’re very fluent, gifted, and I think that they will be right up there at the end of the season.

“So, it’s a tough challenge, but one under the lights where we are hoping for a really good atmosphere and we want to get on the front foot and play well in front of our supporters and come away with the points.

“Circumstances dictated that we couldn’t play at the weekend, but I think it has just built up the appetite for tomorrow.”