Stevenage FC v Harrogate Town: No reason for Sulphurites to fear anyone in League Two

Dan Jones insists that there is no reason for Harrogate Town to fear anybody in League Two ahead of Saturday’s trip to Stevenage.
Harrogate Town defender Dan Jones. Pictures: Matt KirkhamHarrogate Town defender Dan Jones. Pictures: Matt Kirkham
Harrogate Town defender Dan Jones. Pictures: Matt Kirkham

The Sulphurites have won six of their last eight games and not conceded a goal in almost 300 minutes of football.

Tuesday's 1-0 success at Barrow lifted the Wetherby Road outfit up to 11th in the League Two standings, though their opponents this weekend have also been performing well of late.

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Alex Revell's men put three past title-chasing Forest Green Rovers last time out and are unbeaten in five matches having kept four clean-sheets during that run.

Sulphurites manager Simon Weaver.Sulphurites manager Simon Weaver.
Sulphurites manager Simon Weaver.

But Jones says that Town's players will back themselves to go down to Hertfordshire and get a result.

“We are confident. Three clean-sheets in a row, three wins in a row, I don’t really think we should fear anyone to be honest,” the 26-year-old left-back said.

“We are a good team, we can go there [Stevenage] and get a result.

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“Everyone is grafting for each other and we’ve shown the strength we’ve got with three substitutes coming on at the same time at Barrow and changing the game.

“With the quality we can bring on, it is refreshing to know that you can rely on people to add goals and do a good job.

"Every game in this league is tough and every win is important. We need to keep putting three points on the board if we want to continue pushing up the table."

Manager Simon Weaver echoed Jones' comments regarding the confidence and positivity within the Harrogate camp ahead of their showdown with Stevenage.

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"There's a good feel about the training ground at the minute," he said.

"It starts straight away after a hard-fought win, it sets that up, for the rest of the week.

"We just want to keep going and enjoy the moment. We're enjoying being gritty and making sure there has been no blip, no let-up in energy and it's all contributed to giving ourselves a chance of winning games.

"There's a strong mentality, which is great. Hopefully it drives us forwards and we gain more points as a result of that."

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But, as good as Town may be feeling about themselves having won four out of their last five, there is no danger of them underestimating hosts Stevenage, particularly given how effectively the Boro went about their business in midweek.

"It's two teams coming into it with a bit of form and results behind them. It's going to be a tight game, but we're quite used to that at the moment," Weaver added.

"They've shown a gritty side recently in not conceding many goals and they must have been the result of the night [on Tuesday] beating Forest Green, who are probably going up automatically.

"Beating them 3-0, that's a convincing scoreline. Whether Forest Green had lots of possession or not, Stevenage's game-plan worked a treat. After that victory they will be feeling on top form.

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"But, we are a different team completely from Forest Green, so it will be interesting to see if they adopt the same tactics and give up possession so much or whether they go for our throats thinking 'this is a mid-table team, we can get at them.' It'll be really interesting, but more interesting if we can produce the goods."

Town's only previous meeting with Stevenage ended goalless at the EnviroVent Stadium back in October.

Saturday's clash gets underway at Broadhall Way at 3pm.

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