Simon Weaver admits that Harrogate Town have to 'get better' if they are to start beating National League's 'top teams'

As good as the Sulphurites have been in the vast majority of the games they have played this season, they continue to come up short when they face the National League’s “top teams”.

The Wetherby Road outfit have won 10 of their first 16 league fixtures and currently sit second in the table, a start to the 2026/27 campaign that is certainly not to be sniffed at.

Factor in the addition of 18 new faces since the club was relegated from League Two at the end of last term, the recruitment of predominantly younger players and many who are new to the level, plus a change of formation, and there is undoubtedly plenty to pleased about.

There is an argument that, given this is a new-look squad which is still gelling, Town are only going to get better in time – and with a win percentage of 62.5, the bar has already been set reasonably high.

Yet, there is still a concern that Harrogate might be ‘flat-track bullies’.

Of their 10 league wins this season, all of them have come against teams currently occupying the last 13 places in the division, including all of the bottom five.

They obviously don’t control the fixture list, but the fact that the Sulphurites haven’t so far managed to get the better of anybody higher than 11th-placed Sutton United cannot be ignored.

What is more of a concern is that they have been not just undone, but also outplayed when they have faced-off with the division’s better sides.

There is no shame in losing to runaway leaders Boreham Wood, who remain unbeaten and look a cut-above, particularly given how well Weaver’s men actually started that game.

Perhaps somehow finding a way to lose 3-0 to nine-man Carlisle at the end of last month can be written off as freak result, as humiliating as it may have been.

But the real worry is the nature of both of this season’s home defeats to AFC Fylde, the most recent of which saw Town pumped 4-1 in the FA Cup first round on Saturday afternoon.

There was a feeling after the Coasters nicked a 2-1 win at the Marcy Fitness Stadium back in September that they had done a job on the Sulphurites.

Craig Mahon’s tactics that night were brave, but ultimately proved very shrewd.

Fylde sat back in their shape and allowed Harrogate to dominate the ball during the first half. They did everything they could to slow the pace of the game and disrupt their hosts’ rhythm, while effectively keeping their gloves up.

Then, having allowed Town to almost punch themselves out, the visitors changed tact in the second half, upped the ante and netted twice in quick succession late on against opposition that looked to have run out of both steam and ideas.

On Saturday, Harrogate looked more of a threat, and gave a better account of themselves for an hour, but ultimately succumbed during the latter stages as the Coasters again finished strongly.

There are a lot of similarities between the two teams, except at this moment in time, Fylde appear to be a slightly better version of Town.

There may have been two leagues between the clubs last season, but the Coasters are that little bit slicker, move the ball faster and more incisively, and certainly boast a superior edge in front of goal.

Although he also pointed to some defensive slackness during Saturday’s post-match debrief, Weaver recognised that aforementioned difference in quality at key moments, and insisted that he is also aware of the bigger picture and his players’ issues this term when they’ve come up against the better sides.

"Against the top teams, there's a question mark for us," he admitted to BBC Radio York.

"Against the top teams, if you don't do it right for the whole game, you will get punished. Plus, at the other end, you won't put teams to bed.

"It's my responsibility to watch Saturday's game back, and then utilise my staff to then put on sessions that hopefully develop the players further, so that we can come out on top against good teams like Fylde.

"They come thick and fast, these bigger tests. And we will see where we are at [against Altrincham], because if we want to succeed this season in year one back in the National League, which not many teams do, then eventually we have to be good enough against the top teams.

"That's where it is at, at the business end of the season. If we achieve our play-off aim, then we will have to do it at one stage against one of the better teams, so we have to keep getting better.”

That test against an Altrincham side sit seventh in the table and just four points behind Town, comes this Saturday at Wetherby Road (3pm).