Weaver refuses to fault Harrogate Town ‘too much’ following Worcester City defeat

Town were undone by three second-half goals including two fine strikes by Daniel Nti and Sean Geddes before a calamitous third let Nti give the score a damning outlook.

Despite the scoreline, new Town defender Luke Shiels was judged man of the match, and fellow members of the back four Dave McGurk, Lewis Turner and Rhys Meynell all had good games in the view of their manager.

Asked where the blamed lied, Weaver said: “I would have to watch the video again. I don’t want to name names.

“We perhaps didn’t see danger quick enough to block it out.

“You can pick faults out with anybody but at the end of the day 25 yarders in the far corner are good goals. It’s not even like people have given the ball away in a sloppy area.

“What happened was a shame for the back four, because they were very good.

“They denied a really creative midfield any chance to play through.

“They scored two spectacular efforts from outside the box. If they were on Match of the Day, you would say ‘that’s why they’re in the Premier League’.

“Sometimes you have to hold your hand up and say, that was a really good goal and they scored two really good goals.

“They didn’t half change the game because they got hold of the ball and we got stretched.

“Then the last goal put a flattering edge on it.

He added: “I’m not going to fault the lads too much. You get these scorelines sometimes and you have to dust them off. We have to go to Colwyn Bay with the same mindset, be positive and react. We owe it to ourselves to do well away from home.”

The defeat was Town’s eighth of the season as they dropped to 13th in Vanarama Conference North. However Weaver said it was unfair to judge the current team on performances from earlier in the season.

He added: “I think it’s a different team from what we had in the first two months. We are a stronger outfit. It’s gone against us today but we have just won four out of the last five with a different line-up than the first month.

“We discuss it now, we can discuss it at the end of the season. We didn’t have our strongest line-up due to injuries. We can keep talking and talking about it but that’s the facts.

“If I had had the same team out as I have now in September and August, then I think you can say you’ve had eight defeats for this team. But this team hasn’t.

“They’ve been working their socks off and we have been scoring a lot of goals at home, 13 in our last four home games.

“Do I change it after that? It would be harsh if I did that.”