Harrogate Town v Tranmere Rovers: Simon Weaver demands more from players in possession

The Wetherby Road outfit made an extremely bright start to life in League Two, winning four and drawing two of their opening seven matches following promotion to the EFL.

They have however taken just one point from the last nine on offer, going down 2-1 at Newport County last time out.

And, while Town have dominated possession during the majority of their first 10 matches, Weaver did not feel that they kept the ball well enough in South Wales on Saturday.

With that in mind, the Harrogate boss insists that an improvement in this respect is key to his side's chances of beating managerless Tranmere, a team who have lost four of their last five.

"We've had a look at all Tranmere's strengths and also at why they've not been winning games recently, but we just need to focus on ourselves and being the best form of ourselves," he said.

"The biggest lesson from the other day [at Newport] wasn't that we weren't prepared or didn't know about their system, it was that we didn't keep the ball well enough for long enough to cause them problems with what we do.

"That's perhaps a little blip from our point of view because we normally do look after the ball well, and we were disappointed with that aspect.

"But, you live and learn and hopefully no matter who they [Tranmere] play or what system they play we can be a better form of ourselves and get a good result."

Town's impressive start to their first-ever season as a Football League club definitely made the division sit up and take notice, and thus Weaver is certain that neither Tranmere nor any of the other teams they are due to play in the coming months will underestimate them.

But, while he is sure that their League Two rivals will be doing their homework, the Harrogate chief doesn't believe that this will necessarily mean they will be able to stop his players doing their thing.

"They'll have more of an idea about what we're about, without a doubt," Weaver added.

"But, we've dominated the majority of games in terms of possession, so whilst teams might be learning about us, they haven't managed to stop us getting on the ball, stop us creating chances for ourselves.

"It's been our fault that we haven't won as many games as we probably deserve because we haven't put simple chances away.

"While the opposition might be more familiar, we are confident that our style and shape and the players who we are using are all strong enough to go on and make a mark at this level."

Kick-off at the EnviroVent Stadium this evening (Tuesday) is at 7pm.