Oldham Athletic 1 Harrogate Town 0: Sulphurites 'have to score when on top', says Simon Weaver
“You have got to score when you are on top” was Simon Weaver’s message to his Harrogate Town players following Saturday’s “cruel” 1-0 defeat at Oldham Athletic.
The Sulphurites passed up another opportunity to escape the League Two relegation zone, but they couldn’t have done much more in terms of their level of performance at Boundary Park.
The men from Wetherby Road followed up their excellent showing against Tranmere Rovers in midweek with another bright display and created plenty of goal-scoring opportunities.
So positive was their afternoon’s work that Weaver felt they ought to have run out comfortable winners against the division’s form side, but Tom Hill, Ellis Taylor and substitutes Emile Acquah and Lewis Cass all failed to find the back of the net when extremely well placed to do so.
"We are sad because we didn’t win the game, and to lose it feels a bit cruel because I thought that was a very good performance,” the Town boss said.
"We created numerous chances and played some very good football, but we were guilty of not taking any of those chances.
"We played some attractive stuff, but when all is said and done, you have got to score when you are on top, and we didn’t.
"I don’t think that the performance was any different from the 3-0 victory [at Tranmere] the other night, other than finding the target.
"We created numerous chances, some of them gilt-edged, and we have got to score one of those moments. And that is the only regret. I am very proud of the performance.”
Arguably Town’s clearest opportunity arrived in the first half when Tom Hill robbed Manny Monthe and ran clean through on the Oldham goal, only to see his finish rebound off the inside of the post.
After the break, Ellis Taylor dragged an effort across the face of goal and wide after being played into a dangerous area by Bryn Morris, before the Latics grabbed the lead on the hour-mark.
Ryan Woods hung up a free-kick that Mike Fondop made first contact with, helping the ball into the direction of Monthe, who glanced a header across the six-yard box for the unmarked Jake Leake to nod past Henry Gray.
But the visitors kept pressing and Acquah should have levelled matters in the 68th minute when Reece Smith’s left-wing corner reached him at the far post, however he was unable to beat Matt Hudson.
Another clear opening came and went right at the death after Emmerson Sutton found fellow substitute Cass marauding forward from right-back, but he also failed to force the ball beyond Hudson.
Reflecting on the game’s decisive moment, Weaver said: “I couldn’t see Oldham breaking us down, other than from us losing a first contact in the box, and that happened, so we know that we have to do better.
"But that shouldn’t really be the talking point. From my perspective, we should be talking about a 3-1 or 4-1 win against a club on the crest of a wave.
"Of course we can do better in that one moment, but we can do better in several moments in their 18-yard box.”
Fortunately for Town, all of the other sides in League Two’s bottom five also lost on Saturday, meaning that they remain second from bottom of the pile, but sit just a single point from safety with seven games left to play.
“The lads can’t be too downbeat because other results have gone our way,” Weaver added.
“We still have to be upbeat and move on straightaway.”