Under the accomplished guidance of a relatively young but highly competent manager in Simon Weaver, Harrogate Town have not only consolidated their position in the highest tier of non-league football but, by supplementing the core of an already capable side with some astute signings, find themselves embroiled in a congested play-off battle. After winning the National League North play-off final last May, they hit the ground running in this division and, up until the back end of 2018, were fighting towards the upper echelons of the league. A number of attributes have lent themselves well to Harrogate's season. They possess strong and physically imposing centre backs, supported by the impossible-to-ignore presence of captain Josh Falkingham, who is an aggressive and battling midfielder. Attack wise, they have a talismanic outlet up front, but also have technical quality on the wings and, in marquee summer signing Jack Muldoon, hold a creative goalscorer - something that's hard to come by in the National League. Though the top seven is too unreachable a target for this campaign, much like was the case last weekend against Sutton, it will be useful to test our credentials against a side who represent the benchmark of where we eventually want to be. Our blip at the start of this calendar year - if it was just a blip and the Sutton game wan't just a one-off - exposed the weaknesses we have in the squad. Although the strengths we do have are strong enough for any team, the weaknesses certainly aren't conducive to a promotion bid. Against those teams currently in the play-offs, we've taken 13 points from a possible 24, and the fact that we're already collecting more than we're dropping indicates that we're not too far away. With a few additions to the squad, and the removal of those who are so obviously surplus to requirements, we'll be in a position to start afresh in the summer and pick up where we left off prior to this season. Of course, we're not officially out of the relegation run-in, or at least not too far away to justify getting complacent. There are four worse clubs than us, of that there is absolutely no doubt, but such has been our unpredictable form all campaign that a loss today could completely throw us off track and send us on another losing run. When the bubble burst at home to Barnet, it plummeted us to a position of picking up only won win in seven games. We haven't won consecutive matches since beating Salford then Orient. To endure a similar sequence of form, especially at the back end of the campaign, would be frustrating because we're more than capable of finishing in a healthy 10th, which is actually higher than we managed in 2017/18 - to accomplish that would be ridiculous considering how things all started. It's not unexpected that we finish either 10th or 19th considering the dramatic variation in some of the football we've played this year. In the first forty minutes against Boreham Wood, we were as calamitous as anything you could possibly imagine on a football pitch, but all of sudden we became Barcelona for five minutes. Against Maidstone, we were poor in every area aside from their box. Signs of a good side it could be argued, but also signs of frustrating inconsistency and the sense of unpredictability that comes from watching Dagenham. So this week, in which we also travel to Maidenhead on Tuesday, could be vital for our season. Our performance against Sutton was fantastic, mainly because it came from nowhere, and the fact that we can perform to that standard makes it all the more annoying when we constantly struggle to. Today it's off to North Yorkshire and it will definitely be a difficult game, especially as Harrogate know they need to win every game, but we've not done too bad in difficult games this season. The pressure is off the Daggers, the expectation is on Harrogate, not only as the home team but as one sitting in the play-offs, to come out and attack us. Up the Dags
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January 2024
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