Gracious Luke Garrard concedes that Harrogate Town deserved play-off win over his Boreham Wood side

Boreham Wood manager Luke Garrard. Pictures: Getty Images

The Hertfordshire outfit, who finished 2019/20 in fifth place, lost 1-0 to Simon Weaver's runners-up at the CNG Stadium on Saturday, missing out on a date at Wembley as a result.

The Wood were dominated by their hosts for almost the entirety of the first half, and one 15-minute spell at the start of the second aside, looked second best throughout the contest.

In spite of this, the visiting team did still manage to create three or four decent scoring opportunities, though Garrard was quick to acknowledge that the better side on the day won.

Jack Muldoon (18) celebrates after putting Harrogate Town 1-0 up against Boreham Wood in Saturday's National League play-off semi-final.

"You won't get a grumble from me, I don't think we were good enough," he said post-match.

"They deserved to win a game of football, and unfortunately for us, we didn't. It could have been fours and fives.

"I'm an honest manager, I say it how I see it and I don't think we were at the races. I don't think we were unfortunate to lose. You've got to be honest, you don't play a 45 then a 45, you play a 90-minute game of football.

"The last eight to 10 minutes we were good in that first half and then we came out and for 15 minutes we were on top. I thought 'can we continue turning the screw?'

"We know their stats in terms of conceding late, as long as we stay in the game and then we go and concede a corner, which is a bug-bear of mine because those things are massive in semi-finals. I'm just gutted. I'm absolutely gutted."

Visiting stopper Nathan Ashmore was undoubtedly the Wood's man of the match, producing a string of excellent saves to keep his team in the game.

And, the fact that his goalkeeper ended up being so busy said it all for Garrard.

"I think they had about 10-15 corners and that shows where the game was played," he added.

"I felt that [Nathan] Ashmore kept us in it for large periods in the first half, I felt that we were lacklustre, very reactive.

"I don't think we were on the front foot, they got their game going quick and pressed us with an intent and I thought we were very fortunate not to be one or two down at the halfway stage.

"It sums it up when you say that your goalkeeper is probably the best player, it says a lot about the game and the way it went."