Harrogate Town AFC

Watch the Gaffer's pre match interview of the season as we look ahead to our final game of the season…


 
The Gaffer on our last fixture of the campaign…

I'm really looking forward to the final game, it should be a good event. Sutton will want to be winning it to get in the playoffs and we want to end well in front of the home fans. Especially when we've won the last couple of games so it should be a good vibe around the ground. It's Lloyd's final game as well so it'll be quite an emotional affair and we want to end on a high.

Gaffer's highlights of the season…

Probably the FA Cup win at Portsmouth. It was an outstanding team performance and winning it in dramatic style in the dying seconds of the game as well was brilliant and live long in the memory. I think the two Bradford City wins, with it being a local derby, meant a lot to the fans.

Gaffer's evaluation of the season on a whole…

We started on fire and probably surpassed our own expectations which then made a problem for ourselves because of that. The injuries then caught up with us and we had a plateau which started a bit of a downward spiral in terms of the outcomes of games and not accumulating as many points as we'd like, so we had a sticky spell without a doubt.

It's nice that the last few weeks have been better and we've seen it in performances recently and the two wins.

On what has improved in the last two games…

We've just been more patient on the ball and I think in the first 20 minutes we were giving it away too easily. It was like hot potato last Saturday for both teams. Once we took a breather on the ball and kept it, which is part of us probably trying to mature next season, in that we can't go from 0 to 90 and score goals straight like that. We have to build up play and when it's not on to counter-attack, to keep the ball and it's been pleasing on the eye.

On Lloyd Kerry's final game this Saturday…

Without a doubt he deserves a good send off. It was always going to be an emotional affair but I'm glad it's not one where we say farewell to him overall. Lloyd's going to be playing a massive, pivotal role at the club as head of recruitment but his role as a player has been so inspirational over the years.

There's been some periods where he's been injured and inactive and slightly out of it because of that but he's proved to be an inspiration in those moments. What an example he is to the young lads, the way he's bounced back in style and been better than ever after any injury.

Even this season against Portsmouth I think he was man of the match that day. He's a winner, won things for the club and ultimately, every player wants on their record promotions and winners medals, and he's done just that.
 
On Lloyd taking on the a new role…

Things creep up on you as a manager and I was thinking about our playing squad and refreshing in certain areas. Lloyd came to see me several months ago and said did I have any ideas next year, and even he said is this the moment where you want to evolve it and then I get moved on?

I said it's hard to think about a Harrogate Town without you in it, but I'll have to gather all the facts and think deeply about it in terms of evolving as a team and as a football club. The head of recruitment role was huge to fill and going full time with it was essential. When we thought long and hard about it and we discussed things with Lee Barraclough, we believed that Lloyd Kerry was the perfect fit.

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