Harrogate Town's close-knit dressing-room dynamic is enabling new-look side to play with freedom, says Will McGowan
Will McGowan believes that the closeness inside Harrogate Town’s changing room has helped create an environment in which he and his team-mates feel able to go out and play with freedom.
The 23-year-old attacking midfielder netted his first goal for the Sulphurites as they won 2-0 at Scunthorpe United at the weekend to go second in the National League.
Simon Weaver’s new-look side have made a promising start to life back in the fifth tier following last season’s relegation from League Two, winning four and drawing one of their opening six matches, while scoring 15 times in the process.
Saturday saw them play some eye-catching football early on as they opened Scunthorpe up at will for 20 minutes, with McGowan’s fine strike from distance and a clinical Shawn McCoulsky finish sufficient to secure a comfortable victory.
And, although they did not have things all their own way, McGowan puts free-scoring Town’s ability to dominate the opening exchanges through their slick, incisive play down to the togetherness within their squad.
“The first 20 minutes were really enjoyable,” he told BBC Radio York. “That is exactly how we want to play. The patterns that we work on were coming off and we should have had two or three more [goals].
“It plays a massive part, how close we all are off the pitch. I think we are a really good group in terms of being really good friends and close off the pitch.
“That means that you feel a bit more comfortable out there that if you make mistakes, which everyone is going to, that we have each other’s backs, so there is going to be no shouting at each other.
“We encourage each other, which kind of frees you up to go and get on the ball more. We back each other to go and get on the ball and do what we do.”
After that fast start by the Sulphurites, the momentum of the game did change, and Weaver’s men had to do plenty of defensive work during the second half of the opening period.
They also had to “dig in” for spells after the interval in order that they managed to keep their first clean sheet of the season.
And McGowan said that delivering a more complete performance can be viewed as a big plus.
“After the first 20 minutes we have had to dig in at the other end of the pitch and have defended well,” he added.
“The clean sheet feels especially great. The lads at the back have worked so hard for that, so it’s very rewarding for them.
“We have got to be really good at both sides of the game if we are going to get to where we want to get to this season.
“And we have definitely shown that we can do both sides of the game on Saturday, which is pleasing.”