Harrogate’s staying power impresses boss Simon Weaver

Posted Wednesday, March 08, 2023 by PA

Harrogate boss Simon Weaver praised his side’s staying power as they secured a 2-0 win at Doncaster to significantly aid their survival hopes.

Late goals from Luke Armstrong and substitute Alex Pattison saw Town collect a well-deserved Sky Bet League Two triumph over lacklustre Doncaster and Weaver felt his side grew into the game.

“I thought we started well and, after losing our way a little, then got better in possession as the game went on,” he said. “We also kept our shape better out of possession and, in the second half, we were the better side.

“We’ve now got a huge game against Crawley on Saturday and must maintain this consistency, which the players are demanding of themselves at the moment.”

Weaver was delighted with Pattison’s impact off the bench and admitted the 25-year-old was close to starting the game.

He said: “Alex was unbelievable in training yesterday, but we kept the same lads because they have been playing well.

“But Danny (Grant) tired a little and it’s good to look at your bench and know you have good players available to come on and it was a fantastic strike to make it 2-0.

“The first goal, it was a great ball across that Luke managed to flick across and he was then there to knee it in from a yard when it came back to him, but they all count and I’m delighted for him because it was the reward for another whole-hearted performance.”

Doncaster head coach Danny Schofield labelled his side’s performance as the worst of his tenure.

Rovers struggled for cohesion and attacking threat throughout as their play-off aspirations took a considerable hit.

Schofield said: “I’m bitterly disappointed. In the performance levels there was a lack of intensity, a lack of quality and a lack of energy from the players and I’ve not seen that in the performances, even the ones where we’ve not got a positive result.

“It was a poor performance overall. We want to do the best we can in every game and that didn’t materialise.

“Harrogate came here, fighting for their lives and needing the points to stay in the league and they caused us a lot of problems at times, especially when we had the ball against their structure. We weren’t able to find the right quality to be able to create enough chances.

“The game was in the balance at 0-0. We tried to make some changes but they didn’t have a positive impact.

“I’m disappointed to concede from a set-play and then we got caught chasing the game, which I didn’t think we needed to do because there was time left in the game for us for us to settle and try to get the equaliser.”