Simon Weaver happy to rely on Warren Burrell to fill Harrogate Town’s midfield void

The Sulphurites will definitely be missing at least five members of their first-team squad through injury and suspension, while doubts remain over the fitness of influential midfield duo Alex Pattison and Stephen Dooley.

Simon Weaver revealed last week that the pair were back in training, but felt they would struggle to make Saturday’s clash with Carlisle United, which ended up being postponed as a ‘mark of respect’ to Queen Elizabeth II following her death on Thursday.

Thus, both men have benefited from an additional four days in which to work on their fitness and now stand a better chance of being able to play some part against Salford.

Pattison, 24, is understood to be further along in his recovery from a troublesome dead leg sustained on the opening day of the season, and more likely to return in time for the showdown with the Ammies than 30-year-old Dooley, who has a groin issue and only trained for the first time in a couple of weeks on Thursday.

With Josh Falkingham and George Thomson both sidelined by hamstring problems and youngster George Horbury banned following his red card at Sutton United last time out, Weaver’s midfield options without Pattison and Dooley are rather limited.

The versatile Warren Burrell lined up alongside Huddersfield Town loanee Josh Austerfield in the engine room for that 2-1 defeat to Sutton, and Harrogate’s manager insists that he is happy to rely on the 32-year-old to operate in that more advanced role for as long as is necessary.

Burrell started out as a central midfielder and has indeed spent the majority of his career playing in the middle of the park before dropping deeper under Weaver in more recent years. He has however been used almost exclusively in defence since the Sulphurites reached the Football League in 2020.

This month’s loss at Sutton was only the second time the former Mansfield man has started a game in midfield, following on from a goalless draw away at Walsall late in the 2020/21 campaign.

But, he fared relatively well against the U’s and was involved in two of Town’s most promising attacking moments, supplying the ball into Josh Coley which led to him hitting the cross-bar, and playing a role in the neat move that earned the 45th-minute spot-kick converted by Luke Armstrong for 1-1.

"I thought that Warren did really well against Sutton.

"Obviously central midfield is an area where we have been really short and he came in and did a good job, so I’m definitely happy to stick with him in there.

"Warren is one of the strongest mentally in our whole group. Nothing fazes him. He moves on quickly from a mistake or from a good moment. He never gets too down or too excited and is someone who is just able to keep a level head and stick to the task.

"Any job you give him, whatever the position, he’s never troubled by it. He meets it head on without panicking and I think that showed at Sutton.

"The benefit of him having played a lot of games as a defender in recent years is that he has that defensive intensity about him, even in a more advanced role. Even at the top level, you see players not tracking runners or being slow to get back behind the ball, but he’ll always work hard to get back in and back into position.”

In addition to Falkingham, Thomson and Horbury, long-term casualties Will Smith and Max Wright also definitely miss out against Salford, though veteran centre-half Rory McArdle (hamstring) is available for selection once again and could take his place on the substitutes’ bench.

Speaking last week about the 35-year-old defender, who missed all of pre-season and hasn’t featured in any of Town’s opening nine competitive fixtures, Weaver said: “Rory trained really well on Tuesday and there were no obvious signs of rust,” the Harrogate chief explained.

"He’ll be able to play again as and when we see fit. Ideally, we’d like to be able to give him 20-25 minutes off the bench at some point to help ease him back in.

"We’ve got to take care of Rory and we’ve currently got the strength in depth in his position that means there’s no pressure to rush him back.

"He’s very important to us defensively because of his experience having been there and done it and because he is such a vocal presence in a way that some of the younger lads aren’t just yet.”

Town’s clash with Salford kicks-off at the EnviroVent Stadium at 7.45pm on Tuesday evening.

Weaver’s men head into the contest 19th in the League Two standings and having lost four on the bounce in all competitions. Their last victory was a 2-0 success away at Gillingham on August 16.

By contrast, the Ammies sit in fourth place with 14 points to their name and have been beaten just once in the league this term.

They failed to beat struggling Crawley in their previous outing, drawing 2-2 on home soil, though they have overcome Stevenage, Newport, Crewe and Mansfield already.

And Neil Wood’s team boast a superb record against Harrogate and are unbeaten in nine competitive meetings between the sides. Last season, City triumphed 2-0 home and away in League Two.