County v Harrogate: Match Thread (03/02/2024)

Amen to that fella! Harrogate look like a pretty well drilled machine to me, with a 4-2-3-1 shape and what looks like a fairly stable starting line up. They no longer feature Luke Armstrong of course, he now plays for Carlisle, for whom he has 1 goal in 4 games so far. So they currently sit in mid table - 11th place with a record of P 27 W 12 D 4 L 11 F 34 A 35. Their A record is as advertised above, pretty good - W 7 D 2 L 4 F 16 A 14, which ranks them 4th in L2 on the road.

Their Ws are Donny (a) 0-1 on opening day, Morecambe (h) 3-0, Salford (h) 3-2, MKD (a) 0-1, Newport (a) 1-2, Cole U (a) 1-2, Walsall (a) 0-1, Notts (h) 3-1, Grimsby (a) 1-2, Accy Stanley (h) 2-1, Donny (h) 3-1 and FGR (a) 0-2. Their Ds are Bratfut (a) 1-1, Swindon (h) 1-1, Wrexham (h) 2-2 and Morecambe (a) 2-2. Their Ls are FGR (h) 0-1, Tranmere (a) 3-0, Accy Stanley (a) 2-1, Barrow (h) 0-1, Gillingham (a) 1-0, Wombles (h) 0-1, County (h) 1-3, Mansfield (h) 1-4, Crewe (h) 0-1, Crawley (a) 2-1 and Tranmere (h) 0-2.

Looking at those lists though I'm struck that of the top 10 they've beaten only 3 (Notts, MKD and Accy), and lost to 6 (County, Mansfield, Barrow, Crewe, Wombles, Gillingham and Accy). So maybe the record overstates their achievements a bit. Even so I'm getting a real 1990s Wimbledon vibe here, not in a Vinny Jones, Long Ball way but in a backs to the wall, us against the world style. That in turn means they are to be treated with respect because they could steal an upset. In Dec and Jan they are W 5 D 1 L 1 which underlines the point, so I'm getting distinct Banana Skin vibes here.

Their top scorer is veteran MF George Thompson on 8, (he has 56 goals in 256 apps for Harrogate as well as history at FCUM, Chester and Kings Lynn), next on 6 comes striker Jack Muldoon (he has 64 goals in 223 apps for Town, and prior spells at AFC Fylde and Lincoln City). MF Abraham Odoh has 5 this term, (as well as 4 goals in 79 apps for previous club Rochdale). Level on 3 are Sam Folarin (he has 7 goals in 49 total apps for Harrogate) and Stockport-born MF Matty Daly (he has 10 total in 54 games over this and a previous spell on loan at Town. He has also played for Bratfut, Hartlepool and Huddersfield since 2018). D Anthony O-Connor has 2 goals this season (he has previously played at Bratfut and Morecambe) and a further 6 players, including now-departed Luke Armstrong have each scored 1 goal.

The number of MFs scoring goals underlines the 4-2-3-1 shape, so they can come at you from different angles and in different ways.

They have re-signed experienced GK James Belshaw for an undisclosed fee after spending 3 weeks at Town on a series of emergency loans (he had four previous seasons at Harrogate between 2017 and 2021. Back in Sept they signed Middlesborough on loan until Jan, and re-signed Stroker Josh March from Stevenage. MF Abraham Odoh signed on a two year deal after Rochdale were relegated to the National League. Woking Winger James Daly signed on a two year deal (he has 1 goal in 14 apps this season) and Motherwell's MF Dean Cornelius also joined last summer (he also has 1 goal in 15 apps this term).

So all in all, County should be good enough to beat Harrogate but the first goal may well be the key: I can just see them nicking an early one and being hard to break down, so keep those fingers crossed. Harrogate also visit Sutton on Tue 30th Jan and then on Saturday 3rd Feb in L2:

10th placed Accy v 20th placed Grimsby
4th placed Barrow v 6th placed MKD (W 11 D 2 L 2 since late Oct)
18th placed Bratfut v 8th placed Wobbly Wombles
9th placed Gillingham v 13th placed Walsall
3rd placed Mansfield v 7th placed Notts - both in indifferent form
19th placed Salford (showing signs of life again) v 2nd placed Wrexham
17th placed Tranmere v 5th placed Crewe - steaming up the table

Keep those fingers crossed.

Harrogate have certainly found a rich seem of form. Up until Christmas they had been very inconsistent. Their home form has been poor but they’ve been good on the road. They’ve improved since our first meeting at their place in October.

This will be a tricky game. We’ve certainly got the quality to beat them but will have to work hard and take our chances.

CLE on target again to equalise, what an impact he's having since his return!

Good job we signed a RB on deadline day...

And what did I say about they could nick a goal....

I'd send Touray to man a radar tower in Alaska by the end of the day. Just mail him his clothes.

That guy sees to one RB before he f***s off to the AFCON, then comes back and we lose another RB, he's a f***ing jinx.

11 Shots: 2 on target.

Need to be better than that.

Salford lead 3-1 to Wrexham, Mansfield still 1-0 up v Notts

Blew the chance to get some proper daylight between us and the chasing pack there, and to cap it off we've lost Macca, again.

It's days like these when I absolutely f***ing hate football.

Fingers crossed for Macca.