Harrogate Town boss Simon Weaver laments lack of cutting edge in defeat to Walsall

The hosts had the lion’s share of possession but did not manage a single shot on target against the Saddlers. They were punished for their wastefulness in the second half, when Liam Gordon and Mo Faal struck for the visitors.

Weaver said: “We were disappointed to concede the two goals. The second one was a counter-attack against the run of play really and we got caught out a few times like that, so we have to make sure we get our numbers right at the back, but I thought we were in the ascendancy for large parts and there was a lot of good play.

“I can’t just define it as a poor performance because we lost the game, but certainly our final pass and finish was missing, which came down to decision making and being ruthless.

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“We know we have good players who are capable of that, but we fell a bit short in that department for this game."

Harrogate had started the afternoon nine places above their opponents in the division’s final play-off place but ended it level on points in a congested table.

Weaver said: “I thought we were building our momentum again after conceding first and the crowd were right behind us, which we really appreciated, but when you’re getting that far up the pitch, you need to find the bullets.”