Simon Weaver believes Harrogate playing like top-half team

Simon Weaver believes his Harrogate team are performing like a top-half League Two outfit despite missing out on an opportunity to climb out of the relegation zone for the first time since December.

The Sulphurites drew 1-1 at home with Cheltenham after Cathal Heffernan’s first EFL goal cancelled out Isaac Hutchinson’s 14th of the season.

Victory would have lifted second-bottom Harrogate above both Barrow and Crawley.

But the final result still extended Harrogate’s unbeaten run to five matches, having taken nine points from a possible 15 following a 20-game winless sequence that had plunged them into deep trouble.

An encouraged Weaver said: “I thought a good level of football was played by both teams. We kept probing and we’re a different outfit now.

“The last eight fixtures we’ve been very good indeed and look more like a top-half outfit than second from bottom. We have a courageous group of players that I’m delighted to manage and there’s a different vibe in the changing room.

“Of course, there’s a tinge of disappointment that we didn’t win the game, but it was a heck of an effort after they caught us napping a bit with a good opening goal. Our response to that spoke volumes for the group, who got straight back on it and scored within minutes and we were knocking on the door but just missed that finishing touch.

“We know things won’t be easy, though, and until you’re out of it, you’re in it – it’s as simple as that. We’ve just got to stay disciplined and relentless in the pursuit of goals and not let any frustration overcome us.”

Cheltenham boss Steve Cotterill agreed that Harrogate are now a different proposition from the side that drew 1-1 at Whaddon Road before the transfer window.

But he also hailed his team’s “incredible shift” following a difficult coach journey to Yorkshire.

“It was a really hard working and honest display at the end of what’s certainly been a long old day,” he declared. “We were up really early and it’s not ideal to have a game 12 hours-plus after you wake up.

“It’s a long old drive and some of the players left from Bristol this morning, which is another hour-plus from Cheltenham. I know that from doing it myself.

“I’d rather have had the game on the Saturday and, why we played on a Friday, I don’t quite know, so it’s been an incredible shift that my boys have put in, because the eight players they have signed seem to have worked for them.

“We were playing against a different team to the one we played at our place, but we didn’t give up on anything. Our goal was probably the best bit of quality in the game and our only bad bit of play was just before the corner for their goal and then how we defended it.”