Simon Weaver applauds Harrogate Town's 'composure' during Shrewsbury Town success
Simon Weaver applauded his Harrogate Town players for the composure with which they played throughout the entirety of Saturday’s 2-0 success over Shrewsbury.
The Sulphurites ended a sequence of four consecutive League Two losses thanks to second-half strikes from Jack Muldoon and substitute Conor McAleny.
Good value for all three points in the end, Town didn’t actually look like scoring – aside from a couple of bright moments early on – until Muldoon broke the deadlock in the 65th minute.
But, they kept the ball well and were extremely patient in their build-up play, while proving organised and hard to break down out of possession.
And Weaver was happy to witness his “methodical” game-plan pay off.
"We showed great composure from minute one, from the kick-off, and it was great to see,” he said. "There were tackles rattling in, yet composure on the ball. And, if we did give it away, the response was so positive.
"We needed to concentrate on the performance and hope that the score-line would look after itself, and we gave ourselves the best possible chance of a win on Saturday with that performance.
"I understand that supporters want us to take the lead in the first 10 minutes and go on to score, three, four, five. But, There’s got to be an understanding from us, as staff, that we are managing people, not just footballers, and we have lost four in a row in the league, so a lack of confidence can be misconstrued.
"We needed building blocks as much as anything and you try to put those into place. We knew that there is always a risk attached to asking the team to play good football and not being all about playing the percentages.
"Some people might think it was a bit slow and methodical, but we just didn’t want to keep gifting the ball back, and there were two great goals to entertain the crowd in the end.”
Saturday lunchtime’s victory leaves Town 16th in the League Two standings, but just one win shy of a play-off berth, with 11 points to their name from nine matches.