How are Harrogate Town doing?

Harrogate Town are in the midst of their first ever season in the Football League. In this article, we take a look at how their season has gone so far.

The season started with a bang for Harrogate, with a 4-0 victory over newly relegated Southend setting Town up for a run of one defeat in their first seven League Two games.

Manager Simon Weaver appeared happy to stick to the blueprint laid out last season in the National League, and Harrogate’s settled side may have played a part in their success while many other League Two sides adjusted to a shorter pre-season with new look squads.

In fact, Harrogate’s first choice lineup at the start of the season had just one change from the lineup in their play-off final against Notts County, with Jack Diamond the only absentee after returning to Sunderland from his loan spell.

In defence, Town have the settled duo of Will Smith and Connor Hall, able defenders who are comfortable with the ball at their feet. Goalkeeper James Belshaw is also a fine sweeper keeper for the level and extremely comfortable with the ball at his feet.

Ryan Fallowfield and Warren Burrell provide thrust from full back, with more energy and drive coming from the central midfield duo of Josh Falkingham and Lloyd Kerry (who also has a good eye for goal).

George Thomson provides quality from the right wing – his 2.89 key passes per game is the best in League Two – while Jack Muldoon offers a goal threat coming in from the left. They began the season supplying the physical and aggressive front two of Mark Beck and Aaron Martin.

Playing style wise, Town generally offer a multi-faceted approach. They like to play the ball on the ground and have players comfortable doing so, but there is the option to go long with a physically capable group of attackers.

Harrogate are probably at their most effective in attack when moving the ball forward quickly, either with direct (on the floor or in the air) passing or winning the ball up the pitch with their energetic pressing.

A consistent starting lineup and well rehearsed style seemed to help Harrogate in their opening matches, and they recorded three consecutive victories in October against Bradford, Barrow and Grimsby.

But since their victory against the Mariners, Town have slumped and see just a single victory in their next 10 league games.

The chances dried up somewhat for Harrogate. Muldoon had scored six goals in seven games after his brace against Grimsby, but since has scored just two in 10. And when Town have created chances, their finishing hasn’t been hugely clinical across the board.

It’s led to some changes to the lineup from Weaver, with Thomson moving into a more central position in 4-3-3 and the tricky Brendan Kiernan coming in on the right wing.

But since being used from around the start of November, the formation change has yielded little return.

A key problem for Town is a result of one of their strengths. They are an exciting side who like to press high and get men forward in attack. But it does leave them particularly vulnerable to balls over the top and in behind.

In their most recent outing, a 1-0 defeat against Morecambe, Harrogate had the share of possession with 61% but failed to muster a single shot on target.

The Shrimps, meanwhile, managed six on target and found themselves in behind Town on numerous occasions. Had it not been for a combination of questionable finishing and excellent goalkeeping, the scoreline would have been far worse for Harrogate.

Harrogate continue to get numbers forward but teams seem to have become adept at getting numbers back and shutting Town out, knowing that opportunities will present themselves on the break.

There is arguably a slight over reliance on Thomson to create and while the dribbling threat of Kiernan offers good variety in the Harrogate attack, they lack some creative spark in their attacking play.

At all levels in modern day football, opposition teams are able to learn quickly about a team’s style through the wealth of video resources now available.

Opposing sides look to have worked out how to play against Harrogate, and consequently Town are struggling to adapt. They are struggling to break teams down in attack, and are failing to mitigate effectively for their high line as teams have seen this weakness.

Perhaps a shift in personnel or a few January additions may be needed to help Harrogate out of their current rut. But overall, they have shown enough to let teams know that they are a competitive side in the division, and worthy of their place in League Two.

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