Harrogate Town AFC

 Watch the Gaffer's pre Luton interview here...



The Gaffer's reaction to our Quarter Final Papa John's Trophy tie…

I don't think there was an easy draw or an easy fixture to pull out of the bag but we know a lot about Sutton having played there recently, and we're looking forward to it again.

On the positives from Tuesday night's victory against Carlisle…

I thought the energy was great despite the fact that obviously we've had COVID in the camp and we've had players missing, not playing for a couple of weeks. I thought we kept going though and it was a good passing performance and a great goal from Luke.

It's always good for the centre forward to carry on from where he left off and it was an all-round good performance. It was great to see Rory back as well and there were so many different positives in the game. The goalkeeper was called into action just a couple of times, but pulled off fantastic saves.

On the challenge of facing Championship opposition…

We know Sunday is going to be a terrific challenge for us. We had never played and beaten League One opposition before the last round. We managed to do that and we've never played against Championship opposition, so it's a great experience to look forward to.

It's what we want to keep doing, breaking new ground and enjoying big moments. We go to Luton who have been on an amazing trajectory over the last few years and it's testament to their manager and group of players.

They've established themselves and kept on going by their energy and so we know it'll be a tough game. We've got lads who are very aspirational themselves and as a club, we want to set new targets, break through new ceilings and every experience is going to help us.

On using the Portsmouth victory in the Second Round as inspiration…

I think we can try and draw on as many different experiences within the game. After Sunday, I think we know that there are even elements from the other night where we have to look back on and go well, we were better in the first half out of possession, less erratic when they got in behind our midfield and they drew fewer free kicks from us.

I think it's a game where we have to expect a really top championship team to have passages of play where we don't see the ball, so we've got to keep calm and don't cause our own problems by jumping in and committing fouls. We've got to make sure that we maintain a good shape, then hopefully we can break and cause problems for them too.

It was an amazing occasion, especially in the dying minutes where we had chance after chance and then finally broke through. Of course, we can draw on a lot of confidence gained from that that occasion and we're just looking forward to another game where there's nothing to lose but a lot to gain.

On what Sunday will mean to supporters…

It'll be brilliant. I saw Chief Brody's video of the jubilant scenes after the game (Portsmouth) and you can't kid it, can you? It's a natural act of joy and it was just brilliant. That's what the FA Cup does as a domestic competition and we're glad to still be in it and hopefully, we can enjoy Sunday.

#ProudToBeTown