Simon Weaver and Harrogate enjoy another ‘good journey home’

Posted Wednesday, January 31, 2024 by PA

Simon Weaver was delighted as his Harrogate side recorded their first ever win at Sutton with a 2-1 victory.

Jack Muldoon’s second-half brace did the damage at Gander Green Lane. Ryan Jackson scored late on for the relegation-threatened hosts, but it proved too little too late as Harrogate travelled home with an eighth away league win this season – the most in the division.

“It’s a very satisfying result for us,” admitted Weaver.

“We’ve had some hard times here. (Ex-Sutton manager) Matt Gray’s team, when he was here and whenever we played them, got the better of us. To turn the tables tonight was satisfying.

“Another three points have lifted us again and it’s a good journey home.

“I thought it was a deserved win. I thought it was a tight game. We did well to get into a 2-0 lead and despite a couple of opportunities they had, I thought we tried to play some good football.

“When we did, we cut through and two fantastic goals like that made it so we did deserve the win.

“We would like to keep building. We have to stay level-headed but there’s a desire to keep improving with each and every one of us.

“Away from home is never going to be easy when you’re a club of this size and it’s been proven over the last couple of years. But these players have grown in stature and are able to handle these situations.”

Steve Morison’s Us are winless in their last six and have won just once in 13 league games.

And Morison, whose side are seven points off safety, said: “I’m disappointing with the goals Harrogate scored, but we’re not here to dig people out. We’re here to stay positive, we know what we’ve got to do.

“It’s a big ask, but we’re working very hard every single day to give ourselves the best opportunity to stay up.

“We’ve got 17 games left, it’s not over. It’s nowhere near over. We’ve got to start winning some games.”

The hosts were made to rue their missed chances after hitting the woodwork twice.

And Morison added: “We’ve created more chances than we have done all season and still lost the game so it’s very frustrating.

“I thought we were excellent for the first half-hour and we couldn’t get the goal. We should have been 1-0 in the second half before they go and score. That’s football.

“We should have been winning and we weren’t. The (half-time) changes worked. It’s frustrating because you should be leading the game and you find yourselves 2-0 down very quickly.”