Mansfield Town 3 Harrogate Town 2: Sulphurites 'deserved extra-time', says Simon Weaver

The League Two Sulphurites failed to progress beyond the competition’s first round for the first time in six years following a 3-2 loss to their League One hosts.

Weaver’s men arrived at Field Mill having tasted defeat in each of their previous four league matches, and fresh off the back of a demoralising 3-0 home reverse at the hands of bottom-of-the-table Newport.

The Stags, meanwhile, are unbeaten in five games in the division above, so it was no huge surprise to see them take the lead with just three minutes on the clock.

But Harrogate competed well from that point onwards, and twice equalised through Stephen Duke-McKenna and Anthony O’Connor before eventually succumbing to a well-worked late winner.

And the Town boss was far from downbeat after the full-time whistle.

“I am just frustrated for the players really, because I thought their efforts were great,” he said.

“We can take a lot of pride from the performance as a whole. I thought it was a much better display allround.

“To come to a team who are flying high in League One, with a very talented squad and who went strong with their selection, we never really felt in trouble in the game. I thought that we deserved to go to extra-time.

“It was actually the reaction to scoring that great set-piece goal, and that jubilation, that feeling that actually it could be our day, that has cost us. That is because perhaps, collectively, we weren’t quite as intense as we were before we equalised.

“But, their third goal was an insight into League One football done well because I can’t really point the finger at people, it was a moment of sharpness.”

It was all too easy for Mansfield to break the deadlock early on, as one pass down their left flank presented Stephen McLaughlin with time and space to deliver a low cross into the Town penalty area.

And, despite their being three Harrogate defenders on the edge of their six-yard box, it was somehow Regan Hendry who made first contact with the ball as he rammed a finish through the exposed Mark Oxley.

But, the Sulphurites did not capitulate as they have done in recent weeks, and were rewarded for staying in the game when they levelled matters 10 minutes into the second half.

Reece Smith helped the ball over the top of the home defence and Jack Muldoon ran in behind before pulling back for Duke-McKenna to drill an unstoppable, first-time strike into the top corner.

Mansfield would however retake the lead 11 minutes later in extremely fortuitous fashion as George Maris’ shot from outside the box took a massive deflection off one of two Harrogate defenders who threw their bodies in front of him, then looped over Oxley.

Again, Town hit back, with centre-half O’Connor nodding home Smith’s right-wing corner at the near post to make it 2-2 on 80 minutes.

Unfortunately for Harrogate, they were undone again just three minutes later, as a neat bit of Stags interplay around the edge of their penalty area ended with Maris slotting home a calm finish to settle matters.

“I thought that the reaction to going a goal down was excellent,” Weaver added. “I thought that the body language was brilliant.

“In that second half, it was a case of rolling our sleeves up and doing what we do.

“I thought that we were really unlucky with their second goal. It’s a big deflection from 22 yards out, which ended up going over our goalkeeper, but again the reaction was good.

“There was a lot to take from today. We wanted a performance and we got that. There are moments to improve on, but hopefully we can now draw a line under that recent run.”