Harrogate Town's refusal to sit back and improved set-piece defending key to victory over Mansfield Town

Simon Weaver believes that marked improvements in two key aspects of Harrogate Town's game proved to be hugely significant during Saturday's resounding 3-0 win over Mansfield.
Harrogate Town manager Simon Weaver was happy with all aspects of his side's performance against visiting Mansfield. Pictures: Matt KirkhamHarrogate Town manager Simon Weaver was happy with all aspects of his side's performance against visiting Mansfield. Pictures: Matt Kirkham
Harrogate Town manager Simon Weaver was happy with all aspects of his side's performance against visiting Mansfield. Pictures: Matt Kirkham

The Sulphurites romped to their first League Two victory in six attempts courtesy of Alex Pattison's cultured early strike and a couple of clinical first-half finishes from Luke Armstrong.

But, as "slick" as they looked going forwards, it was his team's approach having gone 3-0 up and their defensive resolve which really thrilled the Town boss.

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Recent games against AFC Wimbledon, Carlisle and Leyton Orient have seen Harrogate leak goals and look particularly frail when defending set-pieces and crosses into their box, while in two of those matches they’ve been punished late on for going into protective mode after getting their noses in front.

Luke Armstrong celebrates after putting Harrogate 2-0 up against Mansfield in the 19th minute of Saturday's contest.Luke Armstrong celebrates after putting Harrogate 2-0 up against Mansfield in the 19th minute of Saturday's contest.
Luke Armstrong celebrates after putting Harrogate 2-0 up against Mansfield in the 19th minute of Saturday's contest.

Thus, the focus in training over the last week has been very much on learning from the mistakes which have undermined a series of improved recent performances.

On his players continuing to play on the front foot in the second half rather than looking to protect what they had, Weaver told the Harrogate Advertiser: "It was great coming in at 3-0 at half-time, but we still felt that we could cause Mansfield more problems in the second half if we kept playing.

"It was crucial that the lads kept believing in their ability to get on the ball and didn't go protective and I told them at half-time that there were more goals in the game for us.

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"Obviously we had to expect a reaction. The first 10 minutes of the second half had to come and go without any drama, without anyone giving daft free-kicks away or leaving the referee with a decision to make. We didn't want to get their crowd up because they had a big following behind the goal.

"And we did keep the ball well in possession and keep probing. The focus at half-time wasn't on keeping a clean-sheet, it was on continuing to be creative and carrying on playing because that is what we are better at. That's the best side to our game at the moment.

"We are just a better team when we keep it on the deck."

Having conceded another goal directly from a corner during last weekend's 2-0 loss to Orient, it was imperative that Town improved their defending at set-pieces.

And, while there were a couple of worrying moments for the hosts as Oliver Hawkins and Lucas Akins came close to scoring from dead-ball deliveries, they did cope better on the whole when it came to dealing with balls into their penalty area.

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"We had to improve key elements, namely defending our box properly as a team, and I think we did that today," Weaver added.

"Mansfield were big, physically. We looked at their line-up and he [Nigel Clough] picked their biggest line-up on purpose, probably because we've conceded from a couple of set-plays recently.

"But we have worked all week on that, and analysed the opposition, looking at ways of defending them [set-pieces] better, everyone playing their role. We've asked for a buy-in on that because the rest of our game is good enough to do well at this level, in my opinion.

"Apart from a couple of corners where there was a bit of mayhem, which you would expect against such a big team, I thought we defended well.

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"So it should give the lads confidence moving forwards because they had a height advantage and we defended the set-pieces and long throw-ins well."

Saturday's victory over the Stags lifts Town one place to 20th in the League Two standings where they now sit three points clear of the relegation zone.