Simon Weaver pays tribute to goalkeeper Mark Oxley after Harrogate beat Bradford

Posted Sunday, February 06, 2022 by PA

Harrogate manager Simon Weaver celebrated a fourth straight clean sheet at home by paying tribute to goalkeeper Mark Oxley after the 2-0 win over Bradford.

The 31-year-old former Southend stopper made four excellent saves to deny Bradford trio Tom Elliott, Jamie Walker and Andy Cook (twice) before Jack Diamond fired the hosts in front with only their second shot of the match just past the hour mark.

On-loan winger Diamond then secured a 2-0 home win with his second of the afternoon nine minutes later, with Weaver saying: “Big Ox made a big save for us in the first half from Cook, who we all know is a dangerous player for them.

“That kept us in the game at half-time and he’s a top keeper. We’ve kept four clean sheets on the bounce at home and the last two have been in terrible, windy conditions.

“But that does not affect him or even his kicking. He just gets on with his game and is a model professional.”

Victory also extended Harrogate’s 100 per cent record against Bradford to a third game, with Weaver adding: “We’ve had some really good moments over the last few years and some big wins, but they don’t come much bigger than this.

“Bradford City are a massive club and it’s a big Yorkshire derby – for us anyway. I thought we played the better football in the first half and the lads deserve credit for that because they had to fight for every ball in terrible conditions.

“We were a bit fortunate for the first goal with the deflection but I thought we’d earned that luck and Jack (Diamond) ran them ragged all day.”

Bradford have only won three of their last 15 matches, with travelling fans venting their frustration after the game at manager Derek Adams, who asked for patience given his record as a two-time promotion winner at League Two level with Morecambe and Plymouth.

He said: “I was brought to the club because I’ve been promoted out of it twice but managers have to be given time to sort things out. There have been a lot of managers at this club and, while I know everybody wants instant success including me, it doesn’t work if you keep hiring and firing.

“We dominated this game for long spells and didn’t give them any opportunities but, when they did get a chance, we went 1-0 down after a deflection. We should have been well ahead by then with the number of chances we created, but their keeper was the man of the match.

“He made some unbelievable saves. The second goal then killed the game, but Harrogate didn’t deserve to win.

“Nobody at the match could have said that they did, but they had three shots and got two goals. We made a mistake for their second goal and, at the moment, every error is getting punished, but we’re not doing the same to teams.”