Simon Weaver backs Harrogate Town to learn from painful Carlisle United draw

Harrogate Town midfielder Josh Austerfield cannot hide his disappointment after Harrogate Town were stung late on by Carlisle United. Picture: Matt Kirkham

Just as they did at AFC Wimbledon in their previous League Two outing, the Sulphurites came from behind to take a one-goal lead into the closing stages, only to then concede at the death.

On this occasion, they ended up with a share of the spoils, rather than finishing empty-handed as they did in South West London, but their inability to protect slender leads and see games out has now cost them five points two matches.

Thus, Town head into Saturday’s clash with high-flying Leyton Orient 21st in the table and hovering just above the drop-zone, when they could very easily have opened up a decent gap between themselves and the bottom two.

Jaheim Headley's 75th-minute strike saw Harrogate Town take a 3-2 lead against Carlisle United after goals from Luke Armstrong and Warren Burrell had twice brought them level.

But, Weaver is backing his players to learn from where they went wrong during their 3-3 midweek draw with Carlisle, and pointed to last weekend’s 1-0 FA Cup success over Bradford City as evidence of what they can do off the back of a galling result.

"Conceding those late goals at Wimbledon didn’t prove to be damaging for the Bradford game because we got a good clean-sheet there and I certainly back the players to learn from Tuesday’s disappointment and keep on learning,” he told the Harrogate Advertiser.

"We were banging on the door throughout the game and could have scored more than three goals, but it’s never straightforward when you’re trying to claw your way up and out of danger.

“But I think that if we play like that then we’ll be fine. Confidence breeds success and I’m sure that results will follow.

"We’ve got good players who we back to do well and the belief is growing. They showed a lot of character to twice come from a goal down to take the lead against Carlisle and we deserved to go on and win that game.”

Having got their noses in front after 75 minutes, Town dropped deeper and deeper in a bid to protect their lead, inviting a Carlisle onslaught which eventually paid dividend.

And, although he insists that the game-plan was not to cede so much ground to the Cumbrians, Weaver says he understands why his players went into protective mode.

"I don’t really blame the lads for defending in numbers for the last 10 minutes,” he added.

"It happens. You can get protective when you’re battling to get away from the bottom area of the table.

“It’s very difficult, despite any message, when a team that is not used to losing are launching it from the halfway line, not to try and protect the lead and go back in numbers.

"They are committing numbers forwards and throwing the kitchen sink at you, but we are defending one more cross away from finishing with three points.

"We could have played in the same vein during the last 10 minutes as we did for the rest of the game, but it’s difficult against a team who become more and more direct.”

Town’s clash with Orient kicks-off at Wetherby Road at 3pm.