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‘Where there is harmony, may we bring discord. Where there is truth, may we bring error. Where there is faith, may we bring doubt. And where there is hope, may we bring despair’
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Harrogate Match Thread on 18:09 - Nov 28 with 210 views
‘Where there is harmony, may we bring discord. Where there is truth, may we bring error. Where there is faith, may we bring doubt. And where there is hope, may we bring despair’
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Harrogate Match Thread on 18:11 - Nov 28 with 207 views
‘Where there is harmony, may we bring discord. Where there is truth, may we bring error. Where there is faith, may we bring doubt. And where there is hope, may we bring despair’
0
Harrogate Match Thread on 18:15 - Nov 28 with 205 views
‘Where there is harmony, may we bring discord. Where there is truth, may we bring error. Where there is faith, may we bring doubt. And where there is hope, may we bring despair’
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Harrogate Match Thread on 19:07 - Nov 28 with 201 views
Harrogate Town 0 Blackpool FC 4: 'We'll lick our wounds and come back fighting', says Simon Weaver
A second-half implosion saw Harrogate Town concede four times on their way to their way to a comprehensive FA Cup defeat to Blackpool.
The Sulphurites were denied the opportunity to progress to the competition's third round for the first time in their 106-year history by some clinical finishing from their League One opponents, though manager Simon Weaver was not too downbeat at the full-time whistle.
"It can be a cruel game and it's disappointing to end up losing 4-0," he said.
"When we drew Blackpool, we thought 'its a tough one'. They are a terrific team. We knew that we'd be up against it, especially given our injuries at the minute.
"We competed well for 45 minutes and were well in the game. I was very proud of the first-half performance but they drew confidence from two goals from set-pieces. The second half is defined by those goals, which is disappointing because it's nothing to do with open-play football, or the game-plan itself.
"But it is what it is. We're hurting from the last two goals, but that's because the game gets stretched and we've got to learn from that if we want to keep progressing.
"We'll learn harsh lessons from today. We lick our wounds and make sure we come back fighting. It's not such a major set-back, it's always a bonus the FA Cup and we have to make sure that we're not too bruised by this experience ahead of Scunthorpe on Tuesday."
Although his side were well-beaten in the end, Weaver felt that things could perhaps have unfolded very differently if Jack Muldoon had been able to finish off a first-half one-on-one opportunity with the game still goalless.
"We had a chance, one-versus-one, if that goes in, it definitely changes the game," he added.
"Jack's not used to people catching him up. They just caught him up in the nick of time, it was a timely tackle.
"I prefer to say it's good defending, rather than him not pulling the trigger in time. You probably don't have the seconds on the ball that you do in League Two or the National League when you play a League One team."
Missing three of their first-choice defenders, the hosts lined up with a back-four which bore little resemblance to the one which kept a clean-sheet at Mansfield in midweek.
Tuesday night's centre-halves - Warren Burrell and Connor Hall - occupied the full-back positions, with Jake Lawlor and Kevin Lokko forming an all-new partnership at the heart of the defence.
And, although Hall initially looked rather uncomfortable up against the pace of CJ Hamilton down the Blackpool right, Harrogate defended their box pretty well during the opening half.
Lawlor produced a composed display, while Burrell twice made crucial blocks in dangerous positions during the opening exchanges before the clearest opening of the half materialised at the other end of the field.
The presence of Mark Beck was sufficient to unsettle the visiting centre-backs, allowing Muldoon to run in behind them and clean through on goal.
With just Chris Maxwell to beat, Town's leading scorer would however wait an age to pull the trigger, allowing Marvin Ekpiteta to recover and execute an excellent last-ditch challenge from behind.
The tenacity of Lloyd Kerry and Josh Falkingham, in particular, in the middle of the Town midfield ensured that Weaver's men continued to compete throughout the rest of the opening period, with chances at either end at a premium.
The second period began with Calvin Miller getting down the left and sending a hopeful effort narrowly over the top of the Tangerines' bar, moments before the deadlock was broken.
Harrogate-born Luke Garbutt delivered an in-swinging corner from the right which skidded off the head of Falkingham at the near post and past Belshaw.
An excellent bit of play down the right by Burrell then created another opportunity for Muldoon, though his strike from just inside the penalty area lacked conviction and was easily gathered by Maxwell.
A stunning double-save from Belshaw to deny Ben Woodburn then Gary Madine on the follow-up looked like it had kept Harrogate in the game on the hour-mark, though the resulting corner would lead to the away lead being doubled.
The initial delivery was cleared, but only as far as Grant Ward, whose sweetly-struck first-time shot found it's way through a sea of bodies from around 20 yards out.
Belshaw had to make two more excellent stops to twice thwart Hamilton, in between Town substitute Brendan Kiernan forcing Maxwell into his first meaningful bit of action with a blast from range.
With Town working hard to try and claw their way back into the contest, a third arrived for Blackpool on the counter-attack on 85 minutes, right-back Jordan Gabriel tapping in after Demetri Mitchell's effort came back off the inside of the upright.
Things got even worse for Town in stoppage-time when Lokko fell over, then as he attempted to get back to his feet, managed to bring doqn Madine as he embarked on what would have been a clear run in on Belshaw's goal.
Given his desperation to caution home player almost every time they made a foul, it came as no surprise when referee Mr Oldham produced a red card and sent the ex-Dover Athletic defender for an early bath.
The Tangerines fourth then arrived from the ensuing free-kick, Belshaw unable to gather Garbutt's delivery from the right and allowing Dan Kemp to crash home from barely a yard out.
‘Where there is harmony, may we bring discord. Where there is truth, may we bring error. Where there is faith, may we bring doubt. And where there is hope, may we bring despair’
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Harrogate Match Thread on 19:49 - Nov 29 with 183 views
Claiming credit from a lose-lose situation: Matt Scrafton's verdict on Blackpool's comfortable FA Cup second round victory against Harrogate Town
Games against lower league opposition in the FA Cup are usually lose-lose affairs.
Win and observers will shrug their shoulders and say ‘so what? You were supposed to’. Lose and you’re made to look a little silly and will get all sorts of pelters coming your way.
All you can do is secure your passage through to the next round with minimal fuss and move on.
But in seeing off Eastbourne Borough and Harrogate Town, scoring seven in the process and without conceding a goal, the Seasiders certainly deserve credit for the manner in which they’ve navigated two potentially tricky ties.
You only have to look at Chorley’s stunning win against Peterborough United, who sit second in League One, to realise it doesn’t always go so swimmingly.
A lot of people might look at Harrogate, who up until recent years have been a fairly modest non-league outfit, and assume Blackpool ought to be winning comfortably.
But Simon Weaver’s side are riding the crest of a wave at the minute, sitting pretty in 12th place in the League Two table having secured promotion to the Football League for the first time in the club’s history following their Wembley play-off final triumph in August.
At half-time on Saturday, they would have been quietly confident of causing a cup upset having successfully blunted Critchley’s men during a scrappy opening 45 minutes in the Yorkshire fog.
Blackpool, as one would expect, had the lion’s share of possession but were frustrated by Harrogate’s defensive block, with two lines of four sitting deep and denying the Seasiders space.
The best chance of the half probably came the way of Harrogate, who countered quickly from their defensive shell to leave Pool chasing a long ball in behind.
Mark Beck, a 6ft 5 ins striker, flicked the ball into the path of Jack Muldoon who bore down one-on-one with Chris Maxwell. But just as the forward looked ready to pull the trigger, Marvin Ekpiteta somehow recovered to make a crucial last-ditch tackle.
Aside from that, the first-half was a pretty uneventful affair. CJ Hamilton had the beating of Harrogate’s left-back Connor Hall time and time again, but the Seasiders were unable to capitalise.
On one occasion, Hamilton got to the byline before pulling it back to Ben Woodburn, but the Liverpool loanee — who was underwhelming throughout — produced a poor first touch and the chance went begging.
The second-half, however, was a different story entirely. Once Blackpool got their noses in front, they never looked back and the gap between the two sides looked a lot more than 21 places.
There was an element of fortune in how Blackpool’s opener came about, even if it was a set-piece they had worked on prior to the game.
Luke Garbutt, returning from a six-week injury lay-off to play against his hometown club, swung in a vicious corner towards the near post that took a deflection off man-mountain Beck to fly into the bottom corner.
Garbutt claimed the goal ought to go down as his, given his corner was apparently heading on target, but he’s unlikely to be successful with that ambitious bid.
Nevertheless, the goal — coming just five minutes into the second period — was a vital one in opening the game up and inviting Harrogate out of their deep retreat.
While Harrogate, looking to qualify for the third round of the FA Cup for the first time in their history, did go close to a quick equaliser through Muldoon, it soon became a matter of time until Blackpool added more goals.
At first, they were thwarted by Harrogate keeper James Belshaw, who made a string of fine stops to keep the Seasiders at bay.
Just before the hour mark, Belshaw produced a stunning double save, first palming Woodburn’s curling effort away from goal into the path of Hamilton, whose first-time effort — which appeared at first to be a simple tap-in into the back of an empty net — was somehow turned behind by the recovering Belshaw.
Thankfully Pool weren’t left waiting too long for their second, with Grant Ward doubling their lead from the resulting corner. The partially cleared delivery fell nicely to Ward on the edge of the box, but he still had plenty to do. Nevertheless, he nonchalantly brought the ball down before thumping it home with aplomb.
The Seasiders, who had made six changes for this cup tie, looked as fresh as a daisy, while Harrogate toiled and tired.
Blackpool would eventually add some deserved gloss to the scoreline in the dying stages as the introduction of the three substitutes produced more of an attacking purpose.
Demetri Mitchell went close to scoring within seconds of coming on, arrowing a shot across the keeper that hit the inside of the post and bounced across the goalline. Thankfully Jordan Gabriel had ran the full length of the pitch to tap home Blackpool’s third and his first goal for the club.
The action didn’t stop there though, with time still remaining for some late drama.
It began in the final minute of normal time, with Harrogate defender Kevin Lokko being shown a straight red card for bringing Gary Madine to the ground as the striker raced through on goal. It was harsh, given the game was already as good as over, but the referee was left with no choice.
The resulting free-kick saw Ekpiteta nod the ball towards the back post where Dan Kemp, another sub, was there to tap home virtually on the goalline.
Harrogate will argue the scoreline was a little harsh on them in the end but, if we’re being truthful, Blackpool probably ought to have five or six. Hamilton alone could have had a hat-trick, only to be denied by the inspired Belshaw on each occasion.
Nevertheless, it’s job done and the third round now awaits.
‘Where there is harmony, may we bring discord. Where there is truth, may we bring error. Where there is faith, may we bring doubt. And where there is hope, may we bring despair’
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Harrogate Match Thread on 18:33 - Nov 30 with 180 views
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