Harrogate Town craving greater consistency ahead of trip to Rochdale AFC

Harrogate Town manager Simon Weaver was in philosophical mood following his side's midweek loss at home to Crawley Town. Pictures: Matt Kirkham

The Sulphurites travel to Rochdale on Saturday afternoon having won one, drawn one and lost one of their previous three games, a sequence of results which leaves them 13th in the League Two standings.

Hopes were high following last weekend's derby success over Yorkshire rivals Bradford City that the Wetherby Road outfit could record back-to-back league victories for the first time in four months when Crawley visited the EnviroVent Stadium on Tuesday, though an error-strewn performance saw them suffer a 3-1 defeat.

Three points in midweek would have left Town 11th and just seven points shy of the play-offs, however their manager insists that worrying about stringing results together or where a certain number of points will take them in the league standings is pointless at this particular moment in time.

The Sulphurites have not won back-to-back league matches since early October.

Instead, Weaver wants his players to focus simply on improving in the areas where they have been found wanting in order that they can become more consistent.

“The Crawley performance on Tuesday was frustrating, but it’s probably an indication of where we’re at at the minute,” he said.

“We are 13th, midway in the table and we’re always wanting more and driving the lads on. There are partnerships in our team that we believe are strong enough to take us up into the top-10, but there’s also this inconsistency.

“I think we’ve learned not to get too far ahead of ourselves and set unrealistic targets. That’s why I’m not saying ‘win the next two and we’ll be however many points off the play-offs’.

“It’s not about that, we have to nail this consistency. Sections of the team need to evolve so we can become more consistent.

“We’re still learning about which players can do it three games on the bounce in the Football League, or even three games out of four, because that would do us. At the moment, it’s two games out of five in some cases and we need more."

Saturday’s opponents have also been struggling for victories of late, Robbie Stockdale’s men having drawn three and lost two since beating Newport County on December 18.

They currently occupy 18th spot in the League Two standings and are seven points behind Town.