He’ll get a statue one day – Simon Weaver hails Harrogate’s Josh Falkingham

Posted Sunday, November 17, 2024 by PA

Simon Weaver praised recalled skipper Josh Falkingham for rising to the occasion as he inspired his side to a 2-1 victory over Chesterfield on his 300th appearance for the club.

The diminutive midfielder, who captained the club to their promotion from the National League, impressed on only this third league start of the season to orchestrate a victory secured by Dean Cornelius’ stoppage-time winner.

Spireites substitute James Berry had earlier cancelled out Toby Sims’ second-half opener for the hosts.

Weaver said: “I’m sure they’ll make a statue of Falks one of these years and it shouldn’t cost us too much, because it would only be a small one!

“But he’s a legend at this football club and I knew he would perform today because, when there’s a lot at stake, he’s a player who rises to the occasion.

“You can always count on him and I’m proud to have managed such a brilliant personality.”

The Leeds-born 34-year-old helped his team bounce back from a run of three straight league defeats and Weaver has set his side a new year target of pulling away from League Two’s lower reaches.

“There are seven weeks until January and before this game we challenged the lads by saying we don’t want to be sitting 20th then, because it’s not just about survival for this football club,” he said.

“We want to set the bar a bit higher than that and I’ve got to judge everyone on those aims and objectives, which are to get up the league and start being successful by being intense, aggressive, having an edge and being on the front foot, like we were in this game.”

Chesterfield coach Danny Webb, standing in for Paul Cook for post-match media duties, admitted the visitors were well below their best and looked vulnerable to counter-attacks all afternoon.

“We’re frustrated and disappointed by the performance and the manager said afterwards that the first 20 minutes of the second half was the worst he’s ever seen the team play,” Webb said.

“We’re getting caught on the counter-attack and that has got to be eradicated, because it’s become a weak spot in recent games and teams will look to exploit it.

“We might have also been on the receiving end of one or two decisions, but that happens when you go up a level. Things don’t tend to go your way as much than when you’re in the National League winning games every week.”