Harrogate Town's 'shocking' performance against Hartlepool United leaves Simon Weaver 'fuming'

The Sulphurites started and finished the game reasonably well, but were thoroughly second best for the majority of the contest and can have no real complaints about the scoreline after goals from Luke Molyneux and David Ferguson cancelled out Luke Armstrong's 21st-minute opener.

Lacking in intensity both in and out of possession until they were forced to throw caution to the wind late on, the hosts simply didn't do enough on the day, much to their manager's disappointment.

"It’s open for debate whether we wanted it enough," Weaver reflected.

“The first 25 minutes we looked a proper team, it was working. It’s work in progress but you’ve got to keep that level of performance going because games last longer than 25 minutes.

“We didn’t capitalise on being 1-0 up. They scored a worldie and it threw us, it affected the mentality and a few of our lads went missing after that.

“You sometimes need players to have a moment, a fifty-fifty tackle, a big header, a bold bit of skill. We can’t always rely on Jack Diamond and today there was a lack of spark in the performance, which is a real shame because this is like a derby game for us.

“Second half, we looked a bit flowery, a bit nice. I know that none of us want to lose, but it was too easy for Hartlepool today. It felt like an end-of-season game, we just fizzled out and I’m fuming about that."

Weaver revealed that he dished out a few "home truths" in the home dressing room at full-time and admitted that it will take him some time to get over the nature of his team's 13th League Two defeat of the campaign.

"It will grate on me," he added.

“It will take me until next week to get over this. It never gets any easier, even after 13 years, especially after that level of performance. It was shocking.

“I’m really disappointed that we’ve gone from a situation where I couldn’t see us not winning the game and I thought it was probably a matter of time before we get a second, to being completely thrown off track because the opposition score a good goal.

“It beggars belief. It shows that although we are building block by block, we’re not yet where we want to be.

“It’s so frustrating losing a game in that manner. It’s hard to accept things like tackles not being made in the second half. That’s not us, that’s not me.”

Town remain 14th in the League Two standings following Saturday's loss.