Sutton United 2 Harrogate Town 1: Town boss Weaver won't try to change combative nature of young star George Horbury

Horbury, the first graduate of Harrogate Town’s academy to sign a professional contract with the club, has made something of an impact in coming off the bench this season with his all-action displays.

Having impressed at Hartlepool in the EFL Trophy last week, he was again given a chance from the bench at Sutton on Saturday – but only lasted 14 minutes as he was shown a straight red card for a tackle on Harry Beautyman.

Town had battled back from Beautyman’s 21st minute header to level the scores at half time through a well-taken Luke Armstrong penalty. However, Sutton substitute Kylian Kouassi then came off the bench to snatch his first competitive goal and all three points for the home side.

While admitting he would need to see the incident again, boss Weaver was supportive of his young midfielder.

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“George is a fully committed lad and he is doing great for us, he is a brilliant lad,” he said. “I’d have to see the incident again, but if he is unlucky, then the sending off is in the harshest of circumstances.

"He is a fully committed lad and we don’t want to stop him getting stuck in. It was a committed game from both sides. Some people won’t like that in the modern game, but we thought we were in a great battle… we narrowly lost it but we will use all the experience from this game moving forward.”

A third League Two defeat on the bounce, Town have now slipped to 19th place in the table, but there was plenty for the manager and his players to feel positive about.

The performances of debutants Dior Angus and Josh Coley certainly gave the travelling fans something to cheer as they showed real pace and promise up front.

"I thought we deserved something from the game,” said Weaver. “This is always a hard place to come but I think, for a relatively new team, we looked organised throughout and we worked hard.

“You have to handle the storm at times, but we got back into the game and had a good passage of play in the lead up to the penalty.

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“We are being positive about the performance, the average age across the middle of the park in the second half was very young, we have experience to come back in, but if we can learn the lessons that you do at these kinds of places then we will be all the better for it. We stood toe-to-toe and put in a good shift so there is nothing negative from my point of view.”

And there is plenty of hope going forward as Town entertain Carlisle this weekend at the CNG Stadium.

“I thought we were a lot more on the front foot and got the ball forward quicker,” said the manager. “With a bit more composure in the final third at times, we could have come away with at least a point.

"I thought there were some exceptional individual performances. It was great to see Luke on the scoresheet and I thought Joe Mattock was standout across the two teams really the amount of headers he won and his reading of the game."

Sutton United: Rose, Kizzi, Rowe, John, Milsom, Neufville, Eastmond, Beautyman (Smith 80), Randall-Hurren, Thomas (Kouassi 66), Wilson (Fadahunsi 80). Subs not used: Barden, Boldewijn, House, Kendall

Harrogate Town: Jameson, Ramsay, Welch-Hayes, Mattock, Richards (Horbury 59), Coley, Burrell, Austerfield, Daly (Grant 66), Armstrong, Angus (Muldoon 76). Subs not used: Oxley, Folarin, Ferguson, Ilesanmi

Referee: Neil Hair

Attendance: 2,402