Rochdale v Harrogate Town: Simon Weaver delivers Town message

The Sulphurites visit Rochdale this afternoon having failed to build on last Saturday’s derby success over Bradford City, twice shooting themselves in the foot en route to a 3-1 home defeat.

That result means inconsistent Harrogate have now won two, drawn one and lost three of their previous six matches, a run of form which indicates exactly why their manager is so desperate for his team to discover some consistency.

In order to do so, the Town chief insists that they have to start making better decisions at both ends of the field.

“There’s enough there from the last three games to think ‘actually, we’re gonna be alright and we can look to push on’.

“But, it’s got to be back to basics defensively, don’t give Rochdale anything. The defenders have to find a way of winning their challenges and clearing their lines.

“We’ve also got to keep feeding the pace and the power that we have got going forwards.

“We were negative at the start of the second half against Crawley and that cost us. It’s not us. When you’ve got a full-back overlapping, why wouldn’t you go on and attack? That’s our style.

“We like the lads to get in people’s face and to play attacking football. We’re fit enough and aggressive enough as a team to be able to play on the front foot. But, at this level, you’ve got to make consistently good decisions, so that’s the message.”

Harrogate travel to Spotland 13th in the League Two standings, while hosts Dale currently occupy 19th spot.