Harrogate Town's win at Carlisle United was 'scruffy', but Simon Weaver does not care

The Sulphurites were second best for long periods of Tuesday evening's contest, but the combination of a first clean-sheet in nine League Two outings and some clinical finishing ensured that they returned to North Yorkshire with maximum points.

"This certainly was a satisfying win because it was tough going at times, Carlisle were scrapping for everything and pouring forwards in the second half," Weaver reflected.

"But every one of my players fought for the team, fought for the badge, and you need nights like this sometimes to get you going defensively in terms of the momentum from a clean-sheet.

"It shows what you can achieve if you hang in there when you're under pressure. In League Two, I don't think you have to deliver a perfect performance all the time to get a good result, but you need the right attitude.

"It was an honest performance, everyone was on the same page and we didn't get too desperate when it was going against us. We knew they would have spells, and they did, sometimes for longer than we were comfortable with, but the back-line stayed switched on.

"It was scruffy at times, but we don't really care at this moment. We'd have taken a scruffy 1-0, but we've ended up with a 2-0, so we're delighted."

Hosts Carlisle headed into Tuesday's fixture second-from-bottom of the pile and without a win in 11 matches, however they played some decent football and, had their finishing been better, could easily have finished the evening with at leas as many goal as Town.

And while the Cumbrians were fairly tidy in possession, Weaver's men served up an uncharacteristically sloppy passing performance.

"It's a bit of an unfamiliar feeling because we always want to pass the ball well," the Harrogate chief added.

"But, if you look at some of the recent results and performances, there have been games where we've passed the ball pretty well for large spells but come off the pitch having lost.

"Second half, we couldn't string more than three passes together and I'm thinking 'what is happening?'. But, at the same time when we did lose it, we did graft together and find a way of winning it back.

"Like I say, sometimes you can be happy winning a game even though the performance is imperfect."

George Thomson put Town in front just seconds before the interval, drilling a clinical low strike across Mark Howard and into the bottom corner after being fed the ball on the right-hand ege of the penalty area by Jack Muldoon.

And Alex Pattison wrapped up the points on 78 minutes, starting and finishing a counter-attack after Howard parried Jack Diamond's effort into his path.

Tuesday's win lifts Harrogate one place in the league table and up to sixth position.