Angry Keith Millen unhappy as wasteful Carlisle beaten by Harrogate

Posted Wednesday, November 24, 2021 by PA

An angry Keith Millen berated Carlisle’s wastefulness after Harrogate secured an unlikely 2-0 win.

The Cumbrians, still in pursuit of a first League Two win under their new boss, dictated the first half but were dealt a sucker-punch blow when George Thomson struck in added time.

Despite continuing in the ascendancy after the restart, the home side’s profligacy in front of goal was again punished by Harrogate, with Alex Pattison adding a late second.

Millen said: “I’m angry. We have to change this pattern and this cycle of losing games in the league. They’ve done so many good things today, but we can’t finish the chances we’re creating, and we got punished by two soft, poor goals.

“We need to be more ruthless, we’re too nice at times and we’ve got to come up with a mindset. It’s a quiet dressing room, they’re disappointed and I have to try and change that.

“The way we’re passing the ball and the chances we’re creating; I can’t really complain about that. But I’m not that naive to think that we can carry on doing this, we’ve got to change this trend of losing football matches.

“It’s down to me as the manager to get them angry, because I’m angry and the fans are angry. We have to take this anger into the game on Saturday.”

Although the Cumbrians were without a goal in four league matches at home, Josh Young went close to ending their drought when he struck the woodwork inside eight minutes.

A dominant first-half display was left unrewarded as Thomson fired in the opener for the visitors, who continued on the back foot after the restart.

However, the lively Young and Zach Clough were both fruitless in their efforts to inspire a first win in 12 league outings, with Pattison rounding off a Town victory.

Harrogate boss Simon Weaver was delighted with his side’s display.

He said: “I’m really buzzing; they’ve fought so hard to deliver the clean sheet and the three points, it’s a really valuable win. We’ve been after a clean sheet for some time and we had quite a bit of defending to do in the second half.

“Scoring just before half-time, when there was nothing in it, it was a great moment to score. After half-time, we were up against it and they were battling and scrapping for everything and we had to deal with a lot.

“They’re a good team, we’ve been under more pressure tonight than in quite a few games where we’ve lost. We said before the game that we want to have rip-roaring football and take teams to the cleaners, but that we’d take a scruffy one or two-nil win. We’re very pleased, there are moments where we should’ve been better but we’re still learning.”