Harrogate v County: Match Thread (24/08/2019)

Yeh - that first one will, I guarantee, materialise!

Ticketing arrangements on COWS - with tickets having just now become available for ST-hoolders to buy in the first instance:

www.stockportcounty.com/match-info-harrogate-v-county-league/?utm_content=buffer28d4c&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer

Yes - the in-laws are at Skipton, exile, so local-ish for me from there.

Remember our meeting at Wetherby Road, when Ian Bogie threw in the towel at the end? At least we've seen some progress since then!

Interview with JG: m.mixcloud.com/StockportCountyLive/eastleigh-done-bank-holiday-weekend-time/

i wasn't getting one anyway - it was a bit warm for anything that had been within hailing distance of an oven, but i did notice it didn't seem to be on the menu as we went past. i feel for you maccy, i really do. (although if i'd been set on one to find them extinct, i might have irrationally blamed you for talking them up so much over the years).

harrogate's ground had changed yet again, with a decent looking terrace on the far side, the mini seated stand that we were in on the near side, and some weird thing built in front of their clubhouse, presumably to stop problem drinkers enjoying a pint inside while still watching the match. they've clearly progressed a lot, but still only had 800 home fans, and it feels a little haphazard - on the far side, there's now the aforementioned terrace (with half a roof), a stand that we sat in when we got mauled a couple of januarys ago, a small seated stand for the hoi polloi in their shirts and ties, and a radio station branded effort that i presume might just be matchday control. 8 sort of stands in the ground in total, which seems greedy.

thought county probably deserved a point, and that harrogate might have had it on chances (and more importantly, goals!), but we had it on play. we launched at them with a surprising busyness on the hot afternoon, having them penned back in their half for at least the opening ten minutes, and earning several corners. the first big chance came their way though with one of theirs being played in on the right of the box, but dragging his low finish a yard wide. hinchliffe had to be out quickly to block on another occasion too, while county had several efforts through thomas, and minihan won it back brilliantly before playing in mulhearn who didn't ask enough questions of the 'keeper. drinks breaks gave us 3 minutes stoppage time, and i thought we were comfortably worth being level at half time. as a county acquaintance i haven't seen in a while said during the break though, we were going to struggle with goals with the current squad. i agree, and it can be pretty frustrating that we often don't take advantage of our patches of dominance.

on resumption, it seemed as though harrogate had sent out a different team - a team of ringers. a lot of the play had been down the far end in the first half, which was good from a county perspective. early in the second half, a lot of the play was again down the far end. which wasn't as good. it didn't seem too long before they took the lead with a cross from the right which was finished pretty easily. harrogate cranked it up again, and i remarked to my cousin that they looked like they could score and then score again. the goal came from the big forward beck, who i think has scored against us for darlington before.

-interlude- at about this point, i spotted a very large bird of prey riding the currents up above (looked like the mythical Roc), and a glider too. it was all going on in the cloudless blue skies above, and under the harrogate pressure, it felt more profitable, or certainly less stressful, to be oriented in that direction. i did however spot hinchliffe saving with his legs, a cross from the right coming back into play off the top of the bar, and then hinchliffe kind of flapping his fingertips at a shot to help it on its way over the bar.

jim brought sam walker on for dimaio, and then bell for thomas. dunno if it was these changes posing something new or just that they couldn't sustain the pressure forever, but we began to see the ball in their half a bit more. bell had been put through, but a long way out, and by the time he had taken a couple of bobbly touches (on what looked a very flat artificial surface), they had caught him up. after an error on the far side, there was some audible fuming from the county fans, much as there was last week when he badly misplaced a pass.

...good for him then that after good work on the right from osborne, he was able to sweep the ball into the far top corner. in truth, it reminded me a little of divock origi's finish after alexander-arnold's quickly taken corner against barcelona late last season - it looked a good finish, but i couldn't help a feeling that he had 20% chance of pulling that off, and 80% of hitting the international space station...it felt good anyway, and i had a moment of screaming 'nyal bell........' into my cousin's ear as he had just been complaining about him. something went on between their manager and the county fans, or rather a resumption of first half hostilities when he picked up several plastic bottles that had been thrown onto the pitch near the dug-outs immediately after we scored, and then there were some scenes that made everybody involved look a bit pathetic. my cousin had complained earlier about the lid from his fanta (invented to sell to nazi germany because coca-cola couldn't get the ingredients into germany to produce their most famous drink due to the trade blockade fact fans) being taken off at the shop, which is a pain because you have to either neck it, or nurse it and avoid knocking it over/wasps (which were apparently on their annual holiday to north yorkshire)/angry county fan spittle or any other detritis getting in it. however, it's obviously necessitated by a need to minimise any damage caused by pr**ks throwing bottles onto the pitch.

i thought we might actually win it because we kept pressing, but we didn't make much in the way of chances again. bell balanced things off by clearing the tall conifer hedge and hitting the roof of one of the houses behind. i think the ball was on the way down at that point too... harrogate then began to push again, and when i was happy to take the point and get out, the ref gave five additional minutes. the winner was fairly annoying with its timing, the ball played across from the right and being swept in probably from just inside the area. we hit a few long balls after that but none of them broke for us. and that, was that.

back in the car, my bottle of (still) water seemed to be bubbling on a rolling boil. not far to home though, to take in the evening kick off at anfield. i listened to the radio until half time, delaying going into the oppressively hot upstairs of my house to watch a stream. unfortunately i fell asleep on the sofa and didn't stir until long after full time when my brother rang for a match report. i was out again a bit ago and the headlights at headingley were still blazing after 10pm. was quite surprised that for me the traffic was fine considering the ashes are on, as is the leeds festival, and the denizens of chapeltown and beyond will be prepping for the carnival later this weekend. one of my mates hit festival traffic coming off the A1(M), and it probably wasn't the best choice in the circumstances. hopefully the rest of the travelling hatters had routed through bradford and skimmed otley as my cousin had - that was apparently alright as well.

i chose osborne as MoM on Herman's thread, but i don't think there were many standouts. we did look from the start onwards as though we would only score from something down the right (which we did), and looked like we might concede down the left (which we did...twice). not very keen on this right footed left back stuff, but jackson in front looked a bit lightweight as well. that said, harrogate were a playoff team last season, as were eastleigh last week, and although they turned it on for a period in the second half and had the better chances, we were very much in the game and should have taken a point. two wins, two draws and two defeats might not sound the most inspiring of starts, but i feel like we're already showing that we can handle the level, it's whether we handle it enough to just stay at it, or we can make an impression in the lower top half. i certainly haven't seen anything to be scared of either way, and we've played two relegated teams from the football league, two playoff teams, and one that while written off pre-season, is flying high in the table. some concerns apart then, i'm fairly happy with the start.

'kinell ceef. you only just got back?!?