Harrogate Town v Walsall FC: Sulphurites must assert themselves from the off, insists George Thomson

Having delivered a trio of extremely poor first-half performances and eventually ended up 2-0 down in each of their previous three matches, the Sulphurites need to start well.

With a sequence of tricky away fixtures on the horizon, Simon Weaver’s strugglers could really do with a win in their bid to keep their heads above water at the wrong end of League Two.

If they are to record one, not giving their opponents a two-goal head-start would undoubtedly help, with Town fans surely wondering what their side would be capable of if they could reproduce their recent second-half performance levels from the first whistle.

And while they have successfully recovered to claim a point against AFC Wimbledon, Leyton Orient and Doncaster Rovers, long-serving midfielder George Thomson insists that he and his team-mates have to come “bouncing out of the changing room” in midweek and “stamp their authority” on proceedings early doors.

"We know that we have to start games better than we have been doing,” the 30-year-old told the Harrogate Advertiser.

"We have to make sure that on Tuesday night we come flying out of the traps and stamp our authority on the game a lot earlier than we have been doing.

“There is obviously pressure on us at the moment and I do think that’s been a factor, but we can’t keep giving ourselves that mountain to climb and rely on being able to come back from two goals down every game.

"If we can just tighten things up and start games better, we are going to win more games than we are at the minute – and that’s what we have got to do.

"The fact that we are coming back does show that there is belief in the team and we can take positives from that but at the same time we have to focus on that making sure that we come bouncing out of the changing room from minute one on Tuesday night and try and make sure we pick up three big points.”

When Doncaster eased into a deserved two-goal lead at Wetherby Road on Saturday, it must have seemed highly improbable to the 3,014 spectators inside the ground that Town could salvage such a situation for the third game on the spin.

But, having roared back against champions-elect Leyton Orient five days earlier, Thomson says that neither he nor his team-mates ever felt that the game was beyond them.

He explained: "I think that what happened at Leyton Orient probably gave us more belief because even at 1-0 down at half-time on Saturday we were saying ‘we’ve come back from two down the last two games, there’s no reason why we can’t come from behind again’.

"You concede again and then you are thinking that we really are giving ourselves a massive task at 2-0, but credit to the lads again, we still believed we could get something.

"That first goal breeds belief, and when Luke [Armstrong] scored against Doncaster I just thought, ‘it’s on again’. We’ve ground out another result, and on another day, we probably go on and win on Saturday, which is something we were a bit disappointed we didn’t manage to do in the end.

"There is belief in that changing room and quality in that changing room, we know that, but like I say, we just have to start showing it from minute one.

“Every point is massive at this stage of the season, so we have got to take the positives, tighten up a bit and hopefully we’ll be okay.”

Saturday’s result leaves Town 21sr in the table, three points above the bottom two with a game in hand on all of the sides beneath them.

Walsall, meanwhile, sit 15th but head to North Yorkshire having managed just the one victory from their previous 18 matches and winless in six.