Walsall FC 0 Harrogate Town 2: Shawn McCoulsky's fine double earns Sulphurites another vital three points

The Sulphurites’ number nine tripled his goal-tally for the season with strikes either side of the interval to secure a 2-0 win on Saturday afternoon.

That result looked as if it would be sufficient to lift Simon Weaver’s men out of the League Two relegation zone for the first time since December, only for Newport County to nick a 108th-minute winner against Oldham.

As a consequence, Town head into their final game of the season second-from-bottom of the table, but only behind 22nd-placed Crawley on goal difference.

Without McCoulsky’s double, they would however be far worse off, and boss Weaver was full of praise for the 29-year-old after the full-time whistle.

“Wow. What a strike, it was a great touch, and he just seemed to come on to it with real conviction, and you could see that in the shot,” the Town manager told BBC Radio York.

"The execution was magnificent and it gave their goalkeeper no chance. It was great to see.

"It was priceless for us really in that moment. It lifted the group and meant that we had something to dig in for, so we came in at half-time feeling better about ourselves.

"In the second half, I felt that we were more complete as a team, and Shawn took that confidence from his goal into it and held the ball up well and effected every first ball, it seemed.

"The second goal, he had a lot of time to think about it, but I felt that he was going to score when he went through, and it was a deft finish, a beautiful little finish.”

It was mid-table Walsall who began Saturday’s contest the better, Charlie Lakin drawing a decent save from Mark Oxley before Priestley Farquharson shot against the post.

Town then struck the woodwork themselves when on-loan QPR winger Emmerson Sutton saw a delightful curling effort come back off the upright, with Lewis Cass then denied by Myles Roberts on the follow up.

Former Harrogate midfielder then saw the sweetest of swerving volleys brilliantly kept out by the stretching Oxley, before the visitors broke the deadlock in style just before half-time.

A neat move down the middle of the pitch ended with McCoulsky taking a good touch out of his feet, then bending a stunning 20-yard finish into the top corner.

Things then got even better for Town just eight minutes into the second period.

Jack Evans played a ball in behind the Walsall defence from deep inside his own half, and McCoulsky was able to run clean through from what looked to be an offside position before calmly beating the advancing Roberts.

Reece Smith should have made it 3-0, but failed to convert Tom Hill’s inviting left-wing cross from point-blank range at the far post, but the damage had already been done.