Simon Weaver insists that cautious approach is the correct one as Harrogate Town draw another blank

Matty Daly came close to scoring late on, but Harrogate Town rarely threatened the home goal during Saturday's 1-0 defeat at Notts County. Pictures: Matt KirkhamMatty Daly came close to scoring late on, but Harrogate Town rarely threatened the home goal during Saturday's 1-0 defeat at Notts County. Pictures: Matt Kirkham
Matty Daly came close to scoring late on, but Harrogate Town rarely threatened the home goal during Saturday's 1-0 defeat at Notts County. Pictures: Matt Kirkham
Simon Weaver doubled down on his stance regarding Harrogate Town’s recent cautious approach to matches in the wake of Saturday’s 1-0 loss at Notts County.

That result against the high-flying Magpies followed on from defeat by the same score-line to top-of-the-table Port Vale in midweek, with the Sulphurites once again ceding possession of the ball for long periods and struggling to make much impact in the final third.

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But, unlike their clash with Vale in which they did at least test the opposition goalkeeper on a couple of occasions and create enough opportunities to have realistically grabbed a point, the Sulphurites looked particularly toothless at Meadow Lane.

While Notts had 24 shots at goal, seven of which were on target, Town managed only five, two of those troubling Alex Bass in the home goal without seriously extending him.

Sulphurites boss Simon Weaver watches on at Meadow Lane.Sulphurites boss Simon Weaver watches on at Meadow Lane.
Sulphurites boss Simon Weaver watches on at Meadow Lane.

Indeed, Harrogate’s only really threatening moment came late on when Matty Daly weaved his way into a shooting position just outside the penalty area and saw a well-struck effort flash narrowly the wrong side of the upright.

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And, it is not just these last couple of fixtures against two of the division’s best teams that have followed a similar pattern, with Weaver’s men second best throughout when they visited a Carlisle United outfit who are mired in the bottom two, just last week.

Town were better against Newport the weekend prior to that – although still needed a goalkeeping error to take all three points – but a tough watch away at struggling Swindon in their previous outing – one which ended in stalemate.

The Sulphurites have now lost five league and cup matches this term by a 1-0 score-line, and failed to find the net in nine of those 18 fixtures. They have scored just twice in their previous six games, with their tally of 11 League Two goals the second-lowest in the division.

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Weaver, however, insists that a pragmatic approach means that his team are staying in games, rather than being blown away as they were when they attempted to go toe-to-toe with MK Dons earlier this month and ended up getting thrashed 5-1.

"Of course we would have liked to have taken something from the game, but I am proud that the lads were always in the game,” the Harrogate boss said.

"This is a hard place to come. Last season, you go home having been pumped 3-0 – yeah, we created more chances – but the score-line is rubbish.

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"On Saturday, we narrowed it up. Yeah, we got people behind the ball at times, but we were frustrating the home support and that was the best policy. Or, we can go like we did against MK Dons, be totally expansive and get smashed, and then booed off.

“It’s not being negative about our own situation, we have got to be realistic. We are trying to be hard to beat and have conceded two from open play in five [league] games through being resilient and organised.

"Notts are an expansive side and they are good enough to pop anyone in this league off the park. They take their chances, so we had to reduce their opportunities to score.

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“You see that in all the leagues now. You won’t get a bottom-half Premier League team going to Manchester City and going toe-to-toe, and that’s the reality of modern-day football.”

On his team’s lack of attacking threat, Weaver added: "Perhaps there wasn’t enough belief in an attacking sense, but we have got to keep working on it and do whatever we have to do to instil the belief in the players.

"Obviously we have got to keep getting better so that we challenge and come out on top against better teams – we have got to be better on the ball.”

Saturday’s defeat sees Harrogate drop one place to 17th in the League Two standings.

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