Simon Weaver says pressure only fuels his desire to get struggling Harrogate Town back on track

Last weekend's defeat to Colchester United was the Sulphurites’ fifth in seven matches and left them with just one victory from their previous nine League Two outings.

The club’s inability to win games of football in recent months has, quite naturally, drawn criticism of both Weaver and his players from disappointed supporters.

But, with Town having come out on top in only three of their last 17 fixtures in all competitions and triumphed just five times in 20 attempts at home in the league, their manager says that such a reaction comes with the territory.

“I put a lot of pressure on myself anyway, but in terms of external pressure, when you are jeered off the pitch after another home defeat you do feel it,” he told the Harrogate Advertiser.

“We were all feeling the pain after the Colchester game. I’m not going to pretend to be a bigger man than I am and pretend it doesn’t affect me when we are on a run like this and not getting results.

“It really chews you up, but I like working hard and I’m determined to get better, to learn from mistakes and to prove people wrong.

“Also, you have to remember that this is the world of football that we’re operating in. I’ve been a supporter since I was four years old and back when I was a fan I’ve booed managers and teams off the pitch.

“You have to to accept that supporters of any club, whatever the level, are not going to be joyous in defeat. It hurts them. But, what you have to remember is that while you get open-top bus parades when you’re successful and adulation when you win , you’re going to get criticised by a lot of the same people when you don’t deliver and that’s just the way it is.”

Asked whether his players are feeling the strain ahead of Saturday’s trip to in-form Salford City, Weaver replied: “The evidence in training suggests not.

“The way that they are behaving and how they get on with each other, it’s all positive. Has the confidence taken a knock? Of course, those levels are not going to be the same as they were during the first 10 games of the season.

“But I know that they are motivated and determined to improve and to start picking up results, and that’s so important.

“In a strange way I have actually quite enjoyed this week, because the disappointment of last Saturday just makes me even more determined to put things right.

"The players are the same. It’s important that we go there and are positive. We know we are a dangerous side going forwards, it’s just about staying switched on for the full 90 minutes.”

Salford will kick-off this Saturday’s game at Moor Lane 10th in the League Two standings having missed the opportunity to break into the play-off places when they lost 1-0 at home to Port Vale on Tuesday night.

In stark contrast to 16th-placed Town, that defeat was Gary Bowyer’s team’s first in 12 matches following a run of four consecutive victories.