Harrogate Town have recovered after ‘perfect storm’

Goals from Jack Muldoon, Jack Diamond and Lloyd Kerry saw the Sulphurites follow up last weekend’s 3-0 home success over Carlisle United with an impressive 3-1 victory against opponents who have already wrapped up promotion to League One.

And Weaver hopes that his injury-ravaged squad, who had lost four on the spin prior to beating the Cumbrians, will take plenty of encouragement from both the result and performance.

“We wanted to win the game by passing the ball and I thought we passed it in the second half as well as we have since the Leyton Orient game earlier in the season.

“Once we settled down and worked the ball better, kept the ball better, we prized them open on a number of occasions, not just for the goals.

“I hope it breeds belief into the players, we’ve got some talented lads. We’ve had a rocky time in recent months, the injuries with the depth of the squad, there’s been a cumulative effect, it’s been one after the other and it has been hard.

“It’s spiralled with the injuries, it’s been like the perfect storm, that and a little bit of lack of confidence, but it’s great to see confidence coming back to certain players. It’s a great win at a very difficult place to come. I think this makes us all feel better and we will aim to win the game next week as well.”

Forest Green Rovers: McGee; Godwin-Malife, Moore-Taylor (Sweeney 19), Cargill (McAteer 70); Wilson, Hendry (Young 62), Adams, Cadden; Aitchison; Matt, March. Unused substitutes: Thomas, Bernard, Stevenson, Diallo.

Harrogate Town: Cracknell; Thomson, McArdle, Burrell, Sheron; Power (Kerry 63), Austerfield, Pattison, Diamond; Muldoon, Armstrong. Unused substitutes: Giles, Kavanagh, Beck, Martin, Legge.

Referee: C Pollard (Suffolk).