Simon Weaver hails Harrogate match-winner Luke Armstrong after tough 24 hours - 7M sport

Simon Weaver hails Harrogate match-winner Luke Armstrong after tough 24 hours



Posted Sunday, October 03, 2021 by PA

Simon Weaver hails Harrogate match-winner Luke Armstrong after tough 24 hours

Harrogate boss Simon Weaver was delighted for eventual match-winner Luke Armstrong after his high-flying side’s 2-1 League Two victory at struggling Oldham.

Town got back to winning ways after three draws and a defeat, but it proved particularly poignant that Armstrong should score just hours after his father – Darlington manager Alun – underwent successful surgery on a strangulated umbilical hernia.

“I’m really pleased for Luke,” said Weaver after the game. “We exchanged a few text messages last night and I asked if he was feeling OK to play today.

“Family does come first of course and we would have understood if he needed the time off.

“Luke is very close to his dad and we’re all delighted Alun seems to have come out of the other side of the operation well.

“I hope he’s been listening in to our game as well as Darlington’s of course and hopefully he’ll feel better with Luke scoring.”

Weaver was also pleased with his team, who are second in the table, after they had to ‘dig in’ for a precious three points.

“It’s a great result and one I’ll take all day long,” added Weaver. “It wasn’t a magnificent performance but I’m pleased with the way we dug in and found a way to win.

“Oldham have dangerous players and are a dangerous proposition but we scrapped hard.

“It’s a really long season, but it’s a good habit to get yourselves into – winning a game on the road when you’re not necessarily at your best.”

Oldham went close early on when Jack Stobbs volleyed the ball against the crossbar, before the visitors struck in the 29th minute. Sunderland loanee Jack Diamond comfortably converted Alex Pattison’s low cross.

Stobbs hit the woodwork again early in the second half when his cross struck the near post, but it was Harrogate who went two clear in the 66th minute when Armstrong tucked home clinically.

Teenage substitute Harry Vaughan halved Oldham’s deficit, but they could not push on and are still without a win on home turf this term and sit second-bottom in the table.

Boss Keith Curle pinpointed his team’s “lazy defending”.

“We started the game well and created a few good opportunities, but we’re not consistently doing what needs to be done,” he said.

“When you start complicating the game, you give the opposition time to get set and get men behind the ball and counter attack.

“I think they had one shot on target in the second half – and scored from it.

“They did the basics well, while our forward play today wasn’t consistent, reliable, dependable, and this is what happens.

“We have to score when we’re on top.

“People can say ‘bad luck’ or ‘you were unlucky’, but you’ve got to do better.

“We’ve got to do better at set-pieces and we’ve got to defend better. It’s just the simple things we need to be doing better.

“We gave them the goal in the first half and then we’re chasing the game.

“The two goals were both lazy defending from us and that can’t happen.”

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