Mansfield Town 0 Harrogate Town 1: 'Front-foot' approach earns Sulphurites EFL Trophy success
Simon Weaver picked out Harrogate Town’s “front-foot” approach as the key factor behind Tuesday night’s EFL Trophy win at Mansfield.
The League Two Sulphurites were rewarded for a positive start to the game with a second-minute goal, as Mason Bennett converted a penalty won by Conor McAleny.
Zico Asare made an interception before driving down the left flank and then picking out McAleny, whose strike at goal was handled by Taylor Anderson within 60 seconds of kick-off.
That moment ultimately decided the contest, and Harrogate’s manager felt his side reaped the benefits of starting the game with more intensity - something that was notably missing during the first half of Saturday’s 1-0 home defeat to Crawley.
“For any Harrogate Town team that is going to be successful, it starts with that physicality, real desire to press high, going all out to win the ball back and backing each other up," he said.
"And we did that tonight. We did that over 90 minutes. We were a goal up in the first couple of minutes because of being on the front foot.
"The platform was set by Zico making an inception in the first minute, driving forward and being very positive with his play.
“It felt like a Yorkshire derby, where we have done well in games, and the intent has been there to get on the front foot, be aggressive and win our physical duels. That gets the heart pumping, and then you can play your football from there.
"You’re going to come under some pressure. At the end they went man-for-man at the back and threw caution to the wind. But there was a belief that we would see it through because the intensity was set earlier in the game."
Tuesday's victory over the League One Stags ends a sequence of three consecutive losses for Town, who will be looking to get on track in the league when they visit high-flying Swindon on Saturday afternoon (3pm).