Harrogate boss Simon Weaver labelled his players a “team of heroes” after a commanding 3-0 home win over Yorkshire neighbours Bradford.
Weaver’s side ended a run of eight games without a win thanks to Josh March, George Thomson and a Daniel Oyegoke own goal.
The victory was also secured in front of a record Wetherby Road crowd of 3,905 and a proud Weaver said: “It was a Derby game that is full of magnitude and means a lot to us and the people of Harrogate, so I’m really pleased that every one of the lads put in a committed display and they were a team of heroes today.
“Our form has been great away from home, but we haven’t had enough convincing performances in front of our own fans in recent months, so it was good to see that we were an attacking threat throughout and we had all the ingredients you need to be a top side.
“I want us to gain some positive momentum from this game now until the end of the season. We had a record crowd for the match and I don’t think anyone will have gone away from the stadium feeling that anyone in a Harrogate Town shirt didn’t want it enough today.
“Hopefully, through word of mouth, those who came to this match will encourage others to come and see what we’re trying to achieve at the club.”
Away fans vented their frustration during a sorry second-half showing from their side, with last season’s play-off semi-finalists having plummeted to 17th in the League Two table following four straight defeats.
The last three have seen 11 goals conceded and just one scored, with manager Graham Alexander saying: “The supporters are angry because we went close last season and this season things have not panned out as anyone would have hoped.
“But scorelines are also important and we’ve not been on the end of scorelines like the last three since I’ve been here. We’ve always been in games until the final whistle and we’ll see now who gives up and who has the strength to say they want to be part of this club long term because, when you go a goal down, you’re looking for a response and, while we got that today from certain players, we didn’t get it from the group as a whole.
“We had a great chance to equalise to give us that spark, but didn’t take it and that lack of a cutting edge has been a recurring theme.
The league table shows that we don’t score enough goals to win games or relieve the pressure when we make defensive mistakes.”
