Nigel Adkins lauds first-half ‘grit and desire’ as Tranmere overcome Harrogate

Tranmere boss Nigel Adkins hailed his team’s “fantastic” first-half performance in a 2-0 triumph at Harrogate even though they failed to register a single shot in the opening 45 minutes.

The visitors secured a third successive win thanks to second-half goals from Charlie Jolley and Tom Davies but Adkins was just as impressed by the resilience his players showed before the break on a stormy night in North Yorkshire against a Harrogate side that had also racked up a hat-trick of consecutive victories.

He said: “The lads were fantastic in the first half because that was tough. Harrogate are in good form, are hard to get the ball off and are really threatening.

“We were also against the slope with the weather in our faces and it was blowing a gale, so it was all about showing resilience and staying in the game and I told the lads I was delighted with them at half-time.

“Then, the second half was brilliant – we scored a couple of good goals and could have scored a few more.

“Rob Apter had a couple of great chances, but I thought we showed great organisation and fitness levels. We also had players who made an impact coming off the bench.

“The lads showed spirit, desire, grit and determination in the first half and a nice bit of flair in the second half. That’s three wins on the spin now, including two on the trot away and we are building momentum and a belief by working our socks off.”

Harrogate manager Simon Weaver was left to reflect on a lesson learnt after his team’s first-half dominance was not reflected by the half-time scoreline.

“All the stats will point to a game that we dominated for long periods, although the second half was a lot more even,” he said.

“They were ruthless in front of goal when they got their chances, whereas we weren’t, so fair play to them.

“We could have been out of sight in the first half if we had turned our dominance into goals, but we didn’t and that might have deflated the lads, because we seemed to run out of steam.

“We lost a bit of composure and looked disappointed after conceding having played so well in that first half, but we have to move on quickly.

“We have been in fantastic form, as was shown in that first half when the confidence was flowing. It’s a lesson for us because, when you’re on top, you have to make sure you make the right decisions in front of goal and take your chances because, if we had, it would have been an altogether different story.”