From the Terraces: Harrogate Town aren't doing much wrong, but a few issues do need addressing

With a new national lockdown on the horizon in the lead-up to Christmas, seemingly no end to the rise of this second wave of coronavirus, and the subsequent cancelling of grassroots football yet again, I was hoping for a little bit of a lift, by way of a Harrogate Town win on Tuesday night at home to Tranmere Rovers

It wasn’t to be, as we suffered our third defeat in four.

Whilst I wouldn’t wish to sound the alarm bells yet, as we seem to encounter one of these sticky patches every season, the momentum that the club brought into the campaign on the back of victory at Wembley now appears to have dissipated.

We’re beginning to find out that this is a far tougher division than the National League, and this tricky spell will test the resolve of a squad used to winning.

Our defeats have been narrow and, in the case of Newport and Colchester, unlucky, so I maintain that there isn’t a lot wrong. However, there are a few concerning issues on the pitch that need to be addressed.

Despite all of Town’s pressure in the first half against Tranmere, we didn’t even remotely look like scoring, in my eyes, failing to trouble their keeper once.

Even though the visitors sat back in that first period, they looked dangerous every time they broke forward in a way that we didn’t.

And, after a more dominant second-half showing from the visitors, when the Rovers keeper spilled the ball in the area to create a gilt-edged chance for Tom Walker to steal a point at the death, we didn’t take it.

It appears to be a cocktail of us coming up against better defences, coupled with a temporary loss of confidence in front of goal. Hopefully this is something the manager and players can turn around soon.

The secret of our success towards the end of last season against high-pressing sides, was the ability to mix it up by playing a targeted long ball to the flank, whilst still managing to grab hold of the game in midfield as our opponents dropped off slightly.

Against Tranmere, we struggled to build through midfield for much of the contest, and ended up playing hit and hope for the second home match in a row.

It was like watching a frantic game of tennis at times, as the solitary camera whizzed from right to left and back again.

Town urgently need to get back to what they do best, playing on the ground, whilst maintaining the ability to go long when the opportunity arises.

It didn’t help, of course, that we were missing our captain Josh Falkingham, following his dismissal for diving in the penalty area at Newport on Saturday.

It was a booking and, as he was already on a yellow card, he left the referee with little choice. The fact of the matter though, is that the referee also left himself with little choice, having already cautioned Falkingham early in the match for a first ‘offence’ that wasn’t even a foul.

He did almost the same to Lloyd Kerry, unnecessarily cautioning him for handling the ball after he thought he’d been fouled, and you just knew that these early yellow cards from an over-officious referee would come back to haunt Harrogate on Halloween.

Following that, 10-man Town dug in really well against the league leaders, and could even have won it, if George Thomson had taken his one chance, so they should consider themselves really unfortunate to fall to an 88th-minute back-post header from a corner.

In a week of fairly depressing headlines, both on and off the pitch, it’s good to hear that last night’s injury to Will Smith isn’t as bad as first feared.

Having watched through my half-closed fingers for 10 long minutes as he lay still on the ground, having landed awkwardly on his neck, surrounded by both medical teams before being delicately stretchered off, the news that nothing’s broken is a big relief.

Some things are more important than the result of a football match, and we all wish him a speedy recovery.

At least I was able to text my daughter Molly that piece of better news on her way into school this morning.

Heaven knows there’s precious little else of it around currently.