Six in a row - Harrogate Town's Sutton United jinx continues

Home boss Simon Weaver expressed his dismay at a sub-standard first-half showing, but took some encouragement from the second 45 minutes.

Weaver made four changes at half-time and one of the replacements, Matty Daly, was unlucky not to level when his effort squirmed under goalkeeper Jack Rose but rolled wide.

Rose then showed excellent reflexes to deny another substitute, Danny Grant.

“They pinned us back early on and we weren’t winning the second balls and their full-backs were pushing on and causing us problems, so we looked a bit stretched,” he said.

“We tweaked it at half-time and the confidence recovered a little, although not to the extent that I thought we were dominating.

“We did get a response from the changes that were made, though, and you could see that from the fans’ reaction to the team. It’s difficult for them to get behind the side if the performance is sub-standard like the first half and we hadn’t stamped our authority on the game.

“We’ve always found it difficult against Sutton and have tried about four different formations against them now, but the second half was probably the best we’ve played against them.”

Harrogate Town: Jameson, Eastman, O'Connor, Mattock (Daly 46), Sims (Ramsay 46), Thomson (Falkingham 67), Burrell (Grant 46), Pattison, Foulds, Armstrong, Folarin (Muldoon 46). Unused substitutes: Oxley, McArdle.

Sutton United: Rose, Kizzi, Goodliffe, John, Milsom, Ajiboye (Boldewijn 66), Smith, Eastmond (Beautyman 85), Randall, Bugiel (Angol 76), Wilson (Dennis 67). Unused substitutes: Hart, Kouassi, Ward.

Referee: A Backhouse (Cumbria).