Harrogate Town's inability to string results together evident once again as rock-bottom Morecambe FC snatch rare win

The Sulphurites have won four of their opening 15 league matches this term and two cup ties, but not once have they managed to come out on top in the very next game.

Saturday’s last-gasp defeat to bottom-of-the-table Morecambe following that fine FA Cup triumph over League One Wrexham was the latest example of Simon Weaver’s men’s inability to back up a rare positive performance and/or outcome - and this one really hurts.

Losing, however comprehensively, to decent sides like Crewe Alexandra and MK Dons after those impressive Yorkshire derby successes against Doncaster Rovers and Bradford City is one thing.

But to get turned over at home by an extremely limited team that had won only one of its opening 14 league fixtures and had shipped 11 goals in the process of losing all of the previous three is something of a disaster.

Add in the manner of that defeat, which saw Anthony O’Connor’s dreadful clearance gift the Shrimps a 96th-minute winner after Town had fought so hard to cancel out a half-time deficit and get themselves into a position where they were pushing to go on and nick all three points, and this result becomes even harder to swallow.

What is worse, is the fact that Saturday’s 2-1 loss, combined with a victory for second-from-bottom Carlisle United at Salford, means that Harrogate now find themselves just four points clear of the relegation zone, and five above basement boys Morecambe.

It is too early in the season to be worrying too much about the league table and the bigger picture when there are still 31 more matches left to play, but the reasons behind Town’s inability to take even a point off Derek Adams’ strugglers on Saturday lunchtime do need to be explored.

Ultimately, had the usually-excellent O’Connor not passed the ball straight to Gwion Edwards inside his own box in the dying seconds, the Sulphurites would have drawn the game 1-1.

But there was so much more that was wrong with Town’s performance prior to that moment - most significantly their first-half display, which saw them adopt senseless and entirely predictable tactics of launching long balls out of defence to nobody.

According to boss Weaver, Morecambe’s negative game-plan and spoiling tactics frustrated his players and sucked them into the type of contest that they did not want to end up in.

"Morecambe’s set-up was obviously far removed from Wrexham’s, who came for our throats,” he said.

"This was a team that finds itself bottom of the league and was trying to grab an away point. Their aim was to play as deep as they can, be hard to beat and we have tried to concentrate all week on being on the front foot.

"The lads have trained hard and there is absolutely nothing complacent about how we prepare. But, Morecambe slowed the game down and we got sucked into that. They went down at every available opportunity to slow the time, and were quite wise with regard to that. But it's a bit of a spoiler.

"I expected Morecambe to set their stall out to be hard to beat, and they were, but we played into their hands. At times we were too slow and they were able to shut up shop and make it hard for us and make it frustrating.

"You can see from the second-half display that we tried to quicken everything up. But, one slip has cost us in the end – and also not taking our chances.”

Addressing his side’s inconsistency, Weaver said that it should not be forgotten how competitive League Two is, and pointed to the quality – and spending power – of the clubs they are up against.

"When you look at the overall picture, we've had some really good days and we've had some blips, but Saturday wasn't a defeat where you would say it was deserved,” he added.

“We know where we are in the league and why we are there. To get to mid-table you can still be fairly inconsistent, I'm afraid.

"There are some top teams at our level and when you see what they're spending, their quality and depth and ability to change their ways because of the depth of squad, then they should be up there.

"No-one is going to gift-wrap us a result at this level. Yeah, there might be a bit of inconsistency, but that is where we're at, at the minute. We will try really hard to keep on getting better and more consistent so that we can get back-to-back wins, because it has been a problem for us.”