Prior to Saturday’s League Two trip to Gillingham, a review of Harrogate Town’s key metrics showed a few concerning problems.
Following a thrilling 2-1 victory at home against Chesterfield, the Sulphurites’ greatest concern was whether they would be able to win back-to-back games for the first time in 2024–2025.
Because they have been so inconsistent this season, Simon Weaver’s team has not won their very next game after winning any of their previous six league and cup titles.
Thus, Town’s hopes of ultimately following up one victory with another were quite modest when they fell down at Priestfield in the 51st minute after Timothy Dieng scored from a right-wing corner.
They were behind by a goal in the game, but it wasn’t the only reason.
Harrogate have lost all ten of the previous games this season in which they had let up the opening goal.
The end of that streak was rather imminent. And Town got two monkeys off their backs at once with a 2-1 victory, thanks to a close-range goal from Anthony O’Connor and a superb one-on-one finish from Josh March.
Match winner March claims that improving one’s ability to handle in-game difficulties and tie results together is the current difficulty.
The boys shown excellent character after Gillingham’s goal was scored, and I believe that’s when we really got going,” the 27-year-old attacker remarked.
“As a team, I believe we can definitely do better on it, and I believe we demonstrated on Saturday that we can do that more frequently. That, I believe, can give us faith.
“Getting back-to-back victories is fantastic, but we still need to do better. This season, we haven’t performed well enough in that area, so maybe doing it may help us a little.
“We go into the FA Cup game this Friday and hopefully get another win, then we go back into the league with confidence.”
Having scored just the one goal in his previous 12 appearances and found it a struggle to nail down a regular starting spot this season, March was in need of a “boost” himself, and will also be looking to deliver on a more consistent basis.
“I’ve had a bit of a stop-start season and I have had to be patient at times,” he added. “I’ve just tried to keep my head down in training and train hard, which I feel I have been doing, and thankfully I got my reward on Saturday.
“I’d like to think that this will give me a boost going forward. I feel like I have been quite confident in front of goal, even in training, it’s just about getting those rewards on the pitch now and kicking on.”
March’s game-winning goal in the 71st minute was made possible by a feed from striking partner Jack Muldoon that split the defense.
Harrogate’s number 24 looked like the coolest guy in the stadium, taking his time before coolly putting the ball past the charging Jake Turner and into the bottom corner despite his lack of record in front of goal.
March said, “I just tried to slow down, pick a spot, and hit the ball firmly as I was running through.” Fortunately, it entered.
“To be fair to Mullers, he picked me out with a fantastic ball, and fortunately, we ended up winning by three points.
As a striker, it might occasionally be more difficult when you have a lot of time to consider it.
“My first instinct is to remain calm, observe the goalie’s position or the direction he will dive, and then choose a spot and make sure you make a good connection, because if you don’t, you’re always giving them the opportunity to readjust and save the ball.”
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