Simon Weaver: Harrogate looked a really competitive outfit against Tranmere



Posted Sunday, October 23, 2022 by PA

Simon Weaver: Harrogate looked a really competitive outfit against Tranmere

Harrogate boss Simon Weaver believes his team are beginning to look like a “really competitive outfit” again after fighting out a 1-1 home draw against in-form Tranmere.

The visitors were hoping to rack up a sixth league victory on the bounce but conceded the opening goal for the first time in nine matches when Matty Daly netted for the Sulphurites after 37 minutes.

Jordan Turnbull’s first Rovers goal secured a share of the spoils after the break but, with Town having won their previous two games against Hartlepool in League Two and Morecambe in the EFL Trophy, Weaver feels his team might have just turned a corner following a sorry run of nine defeats in 10 contests.

He said: “We looked a lot more cohesive and a really competitive outfit and I don’t think the teams could be split over 90 minutes.

“We were on top in the first half and they were on top in the second when Rory McArdle defended their crosses ever so well for us and it was a good team effort all round.

“We had some good moments in the first half when we could have scored more goals to make it a more comfortable scoreline at half-time, but I thought it was a really good, exciting game of football.

“It was a bit fractious at times but that’s what you can get when two teams are giving it a really good go.

“They worked the block well for the equaliser and getting your set-pieces to work is what we all try to do as teams and coaching staff, but the referee didn’t see one or two of our players get blocked off.”

Tranmere manager Micky Mellon was pleased with his team’s second-half response to an opening 45 minutes that left him underwhelmed.

“The second half was a very good reaction but, if we had shown that intensity, attitude and quality in the first half, we wouldn’t have needed that reaction,” he argued.

“We never really sprung out of our shape and, even when we had the ball, we were staying compact and had nobody creating overloads and going on overlaps.

“But we were much more like ourselves in the second half and the attacking players we needed to do their jobs suddenly started to stand up and deliver.

“We got the goal and I thought we were going to go on and get a second, but it just didn’t come and, with the number of crosses that were going into their box, we could have probably done better in terms of getting in front of people to get on the end of them.

“So, all in all, I respect the point but I’m disappointed, as always, when we don’t win a game.”

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