Doncaster defending not Harrogate Town's 'electric' Abraham Odoh blamed for Rovers' latest breakdown

Few would have anticipated Harrogate sitting 12th after doing the double over their Yorkshire rivals.

For the 49 minutes Saturday’s game was at 1-1, Rovers were the better team, recovering from a slow start perhaps connected to their team bus breaking down en route to cancel out Sam Folarin's opener with a Tommy Rowe blockbuster less than a minute later.

But the Sulphurites had the best player in Abraham Odoh. And when you have a high-quality attacker – both sides have a couple – all you need to do is stay in games.

As frustration poured out of manager Grant McCann that Rovers could not, his Doncastrian counterpart was all smiles and play-off talk.

At 23 years-old and with only 68 league starts, Odoh is rough around the edges. He would not be in League Two otherwise.

When he ought to have restored Harrogate’s first-half lead he was caught between shooting and picking out Folarin and pushed a weak shot beyond the far post. In the second half he ought to have played Jack Muldoon in outside him only to decline, then fluff the eventual pass.

In between time he let Louis Jones win a one-on-one when a proper No 9, as opposed to a No 10 wearing the wrong digit, might not have.

What he could not do was far outweighed by what he did.

In the 18th minute he ran outside winger Folarin and returned a pass with the right weight for his friend to stroke the ball into the net.

In the 53rd his interception of a poor Joseph Olowu pass began a period of pressure which did not end with George Thomson or James Daly scoring in a goalmouth scramble but at least broke the shackles.

Longer-term it might not, but on the day Folarin's hamstring giving way at the end of the first half helped Harrogate. The ex-Middlesbrough player was very good but so was his replacement, Daly, who finished a flowing move with his first Harrogate goal in only his second game back from two months out injured.

It also seemed to inspire Odoh to seize the game, regularly picking the ball up in the inside-left channel and running with it or picking a pass.

In the 75th minute he ran from halfway, glided infield and hit an excellent shot to make secure a 3-1 win.

It got the crowd on their feet and nearly 20 minutes later came another standing ovation as he came off.

"It's a rare commodity when you see a gritty flair player," said his manager Simon Weaver. "He's got a massive heart.

"We like him to have a crack and fear nothing. He certainly didn't fear anything with his goal – I think he hurt the ball with that power.

"He's got the freedom to just go and play because we know he's very much a team player."

After his time in the treatment room, Daly was having fun too.

Having seen plenty of the ball without making enough chances in the last 25 minutes of the first half, Rovers upped the pressure on the restart, particularly Luke Molyneux, who guided a volley wide, dragged a shot off target and had another headed away by Liam Gibson.

But when Anthony O'Connor intercepted the ball and picked out the lively Kayne Ramsay for a one-two with Thomson then a cross, Daly slid onto it to tap in his side’s second.

"Simon and Thirls (Weaver's assistant Paul Thirlwell) have always instilled that we want to kick on, it's not just a case of stabilising and solidifying," said Daly.

"Ibby (Odoh)’s goal was great quality and quality wins you matches. It's nice to be playing with players who can spin the game on its head.

"We've got a lot of boys who provide plenty of entertainment."

The joy in Harrogate's play after 10 points from a possible 15 was in stark contrast to McCann's post-match mood.

A draw with Mansfield Town and 3-0 win over Milton Keynes Dons had Rovers all smiles before kick-off but McCann knows his players.

"We can't just do it for two games," he said prophetically. His post-match interviews would talk about defending pathetically.

"We've lost the game ourselves," he bristled. "Apart from the two goals they scored in the second half I can't really think of any other opportunities, we had opportunities but we kept putting them over the bar, wide of the post, into blocks.

"We've been undone by two or three moments rearing their ugly head again. Probably 85 per cent of our goals conceded come from us letting teams inside the pitch."

McCann, who earnt the trust of the fanbase in his first spell as manager and clearly still has it judging by how the noisy away following sang his name, hinted at transfer window defenstrations.

"The players know how I work and I've said to them if you can't do what we're asking you to do, come and speak to us,” he said. “We've tried to help them all season but ultimately it's hurting us as a team, it's hurting the club, it's hurting the fans.

"If players aren't going to get better at it, unfortunately that (transfers) is what happens."

Harrogate Town: Belshaw; Ramsay, O'Connor, Gibson, Foulds; Cornelius (Falkingham 81), Dooley (Sutton 81); Thomson, Odoh (Burrell 90+4), Folarin (Daly 46); Muldoon. Unused substitutes: Sivi, O'Boyle, Mooney.Doncaster Rovers: Jones; Sterry (Nixon 72), Olowu, Bailey, Senior; Biggins (Broadbent 72), Close, Rowe; Molyneux, Ironside, Faal (Carty 72). Unused substitutes: Hurst, McGrath, Faulkner, Bottomley.Referee: S Purkiss (London).