Why Harrogate Town goal-scorer Alex Pattison felt the need to apologise to his team-mates after Hartlepool United draw

The 25-year-old midfielder broke the deadlock after just four minutes of what was his first start in more than a month, but feels that his failure to convert a second chance later in the game cost his side victory.

Pattison’s early opener was cancelled out by Josh Umerah just before half-time, then Mohamed Sylla fired Pools ahead seconds after the resumption.

Sam Folarin drew Town level at 2-2 within three minutes, before a golden opportunity came and went for the former Wycombe Wanderers man to move his side back into the lead.

Having received possession inside the home box, Pattison shifted the ball onto his right foot and beat a defender to open up a clear sight of goal, only to rattle the cross-bar when it actually looked easier to score.

Mark Shelton then struck at the other end to put the hosts 3-2 up, and although George Thomson’s sweetly-struck 73rd-minute effort ensured that Harrogate ended up with a share of the spoils, Pattison believes that the Sulphurites should have left Victoria Park with a fourth win in five matches under their belts.

“I think that we have got to be pleased with a point in the end but we feel as if we could have taken all three,” he told the Harrogate Advertiser.

"I missed a really good chance. There’s no excuse for it really, I should score and so I apologised to everyone when I went into the changing room after the game. I should be burying a chance like that and, if I do, then it makes it 3-2 and maybe we kill the game off.

"I haven’t really tried to leather it, but it has just bobbled up a little bit and I’ve hit it a bit too hard and it has come off the bar.

"So, obviously I should score, but a point is a point and we’ll take that away from home.”

Pattison missed Town’s recent wins over Rochdale and Grimsby through injury and then illness and was only fit enough for a place on the bench at Bradford City in midweek having not fully recovered from a sickness bug which a number of his team-mates have also been affected by.

And, although he admits that he is still not quite “100 percent” he says he feels like he isn’t too far away from returning to full fitness.

"I’ll be honest, there has been a lot of illness in the camp and there are still five or six in there coughing now,” he added.

"I’m still not 100 percent. I had to come on against Bradford before half-time, which wasn’t the plan but obviously I gave it my all, though I probably wasn’t ready.

"On Sunday I felt a little bit better. I was feeling it after the final whistle, but hopefully a few more days of rest and everyone will be good to go again.

"It has been tough to be honest, a lot of us have been ill, but we’ve done well.”

Although they drew a blank at Bradford in midweek, Town have scored 13 goals in their previous five League Two matches and Pattison believes that they have developed into a far more dangerous team in recent months.

"Obviously I hadn’t played in the last few games, I’ve just been watching and Luke [Armstrong] and Sam [Folarin] have really been on fire,” he continued.

"Luke has hit form at a brilliant time and has been scoring for fun, then got two assists today. Nobody is keeping up with Sam, I don’t think many defenders in the Premier League would keep up with Sam. I thought he was brilliant against Hartlepool and deservedly got his goal.

"Everyone is in sync, but that starts from the back, especially Kayne [Ramsay] and Jaheim [Headley]. I think they’ve been unbelievable as the main driving force in the team and without them we wouldn’t have the base to go on and attack like we do, so credit to everyone involved.

"We don’t want to get ahead of ourselves, but I think that we look a far better team going forwards now. Everyone is doing their bit, we have got more strength in depth and we’re doing well so we want to be looking up the table, and I think that we are more than capable of climbing it if we keep on playing the way we have been doing.”

Sunday’s draw with Hartlepool keeps Town 19th in the League Two standings, where they remain seven points clear of the relegation zone.