Simon Weaver hails Harrogate Town's 'courage and conviction' following Chesterfield FC draw

Having shaded the first half, the Sulphurites had to cling on during the closing stages, but just about did enough to secure a hard-earned point which edged them further clear of the League Two relegation zone.

“This was another good Harrogate Town performance at Chesterfield in front of a crowd of 8,000,” Weaver said.

“We didn’t half dig in. In terms of the courage and conviction of the display, I was absolutely delighted.

“I thought that it was a brilliant, gritty display and the endeavour was there for everyone to see in the stadium.

“It was backs against the wall in the last 20 minutes and that is what is going to happen when you don’t get that goal and you come to a place like this.

“But, I thought the lads deserved to get something out of the game because of their pure endeavour.”

Expanding upon exactly what it was about his team’s performance that he enjoyed so much, Weaver added: “Everyone on our side dug in and they had to. Chesterfield are a very talented site for this level.

“They are full of talent, so we set up to try and stop them playing with such fluency - as we did at home.

“We then wanted to win the ball back in the middle third so that we could open them up on the counter-attack. And it worked, we just needed a little bit more end product so we could pose more of an attacking threat.

“We can take pleasure in the point because everything that we have worked on has worked. Yes, we have missed opportunities, but we haven’t half defended well.”

Saturday’s result follows on from last weekend’s 3-0 loss at Newport County, and Weaver felt that Town righted some of the wrongs that contributed to that defeat.

“Last week was a bit of a shock to the system,” he continued.

“We conceded three from set-pieces and it’s been a long long time since we last conceded from a set-play.

“I thought that the reaction from the disappointment of last week was so important and we defended really well.”

A share of the spoils at Chesterfield moves Town 11 points away from the bottom two with eight games left to play this season.

It also extended Harrogate’s unbeaten run in competitive fixtures against the Spireites into a sixth match, with Weaver’s men having won four of those clashes.