Harrogate Town AFC

Watch the Gaffer's pre-match chat ahead of Saturday's home match against Stevenage…


 
The Gaffer on Tuesday's draw with Crawley and their manager John Yems praising our team…

It's nice to receive those comments about the team. I think the lads played ever so well the other night and probably deserved the three points overall but it just wasn't meant to be. We've got to take the positives from so many aspects of the overall performance.

What we liked was the real attitude and fitness of the players and the aggressive attacking intent throughout. I thought the passing at times was of a really fast tempo and accurate and it caused Crawley a lot of problems. I think there were a couple of lapses defensively  which we have to look at and see how we can do better. We've got to aim to be better because overall we're on the front foot and probably were the better team throughout.

On Luke Armstrong's fine form…

He's even better close up than what we even imagined. We knew we were getting a top player but he's fantastic to work with, a  great lad and the lads love him to bits off the pitch and on the pitch he's been a tower of strength and quality for us.

On recovering from Crawley and preparing for Saturday against Stevenage…

The lads were given two days off to recharge the batteries and we can do that with this group as we know they'll act in the right way and manner off the pitch. It all leads up to the game tomorrow so today will be a fun session but about getting the focus back. We'll be looking closely at Stevenage and set plays for and against.

We know it'll be a battle tomorrow, Alex Revell said in his pre match discussion that it was about winning the battle and matching our energy so we'll have to try and crank up the energy again so Stevenage find it hard to achieve and we'll do our best to get the three points.

I think they have been able to strengthen again this season so they have more options attacking wise but the league is a funny one. Stevenage have had some good results yet recently fallen off a little bit but it's the same group of players and I'm sure they'll have an upward curve again but we don't want it until after Saturday.

Injury news on Alex Pattison and Lewis Page…

Hopefully with positive news with Alex Pattison who'll be getting checked over today by the doctor again. We've got to go through the right channels and make sure we tick the boxes as we're dealing with his head after all.

Secondly, Lewis Page won't be right for this Saturday and the next couple of weeks. He's going to have some more treatment and possibly look at his back as well just so we're making sure we're doing everything possible in our scope to get him right. We need his hamstrings fit and that he's happy as well as it's been a bit of a complication of his for a while.

On what the next step is to keep improving…

Be more clinical defensively, really. We've proven we can create and score goals and we look a real handful at times with the energy and the more of a cutting edge. We've got to make sure we keep clean sheets so we'll be aiming to do that,  it's not about being in fear of it, it's just being excited.

I woke up on Wednesday morning and couldn't help but feel good about the team's performance and progress so far this season, we're so hungry to keep it going. We know there's always something to improve on and at the moment that's defending as a team but we'll get there.  

#ProudToBeTown