Simon Weaver thrilled by Harrogate Town's 'big reaction' to falling behind against Northampton Town

Struggling near the bottom of the League Two standings and coming off the back of a comprehensive 3-0 loss at Swindon on Saturday, the Sulphurites went 1-0 down early in the second half of Tuesday night's home showdown with the high-flying Cobblers.

But, within 60 seconds of Mitch Pinnock's deflected effort finding the back of their net, the Wetherby Road outfit hit back through Luke Armstrong's 11th goal of the season.

"The lads kept on going," Weaver reflected.

"Straight after half-time, to be deflated like that from them scoring a goal, we needed a big reaction - and we got that.

"It's easy to cave in and just think 'it's going against us, it's a deflected goal, the world is against us'. That is when you need characters to stand up and every individual out there, and the lads on the bench, did that.

"We've just suffered a 3-0 defeat, and you're going to be a bit bruised from that, and we know the importance of each game. But the players were superb.

"It shows character, it shows the capacity to react to disappointment and I'm allowed to be very proud of the group."

Harrogate fell behind with 49 minutes on the clock when Kazeem Olaigbe carelessly gave the ball away inside his own half and Pinnock was able to advance infield from the left and unleash a low, 25-yard shot which deflected off Anthony O’Connor and beyond the despairing dive of Mark Oxley.

But they were back on terms within 60 seconds after Jack Muldoon found some space down the left and pulled a cross back towards Armstrong at the near post.

He then found Josh Falkingham, who was crowded out, but the ball broke for Armstrong on the edge of the area and he slid a composed finish across Tom King for 1-1.

Tuesday's result, combined with second-from-bottom Crawley’s defeat to Tranmere Rovers, moves Weaver's team five points clear of the relegation places ahead of this weekend’s crunch clash with fellow strugglers Gillingham.