Harrogate Town boss Simon Weaver on why his team were 'second best' during defeat to Stockport County

But, just like the vast majority of those in attendance at Wetherby Road, the Sulphurites boss was ultimately left extremely disappointed by what his players delivered.

Continuing their worrying recent trend of leaving themselves with a mountain to climb on home soil as a result of a poor start, Town were two down before half-time, going on to lose the game 3-1 and suffering their third defeat in four winless outings at the EnviroVent Stadium.

Trailing to strikes by Myles Hippolyte and Isaac Olaofe, Hatters goalkeeper Ben Hinchliffe’s shambolic own goal gifted the hosts a route back into the contest on 63 minutes, though any hopes of a comeback were extinguished when Will Collar headed home Stockport’s third.

“It’s frustrating after the renewed hope and confidence we took from beating a top-three side in Carlisle last week,” Weaver told the Harrogate Advertiser.

“We’ve had a fantastic week of training. The lads have really produced the goods in training, but it’s another thing entirely producing it against a very strong Stockport team.

“It wasn’t good enough in the first half. It gives us an uphill task, 2-0 down at half-time. They were two poor goals. It was soft from us.

“I was concerned by the first half, that’s why I made changes at half-time. I don’t think that we were as tigerish in midfield as we have been known to be.

“We were man-handled by a powerful three in there. It was three versus three in the middle of the park and we lost the individual battles. We were second best.”

Having started reasonably well and showed a few signs of early promise, Town’s players visibly went into themselves after falling behind on 14 minutes and were completely bossed by their visitors for the remainder of the opening period.

Asked why he felt his side struggled so badly after going a goal down, Weaver replied: “The pressure is on. The players feel it, like everybody, they are humans.

“Even after a good win last week, we are back at home, the lads want to appease the home fans, actually get them singing, but we didn’t do that and we didn’t deserve that [support].

“Credit to the lads for reacting well from half-time and getting on the front foot, but unfortunately we didn’t have enough quality on the day.

“Stockport performed better than us. They’ve got a strong squad, they’ve got that ruthless edge and the confidence that comes when you’re climbing the table.”

Much-improved following the introduction of Levi Sutton and Jack Muldoon at the break and driven on by impressive debutant Kazeem Olaigbe, Town did enjoy the best part of half an hour in the ascendancy at the beginning of the second period.

And having seen his team half the deficit, Weaver felt that they were in contention to go on and salvage a point until another defensive lapse saw County put the game out of reach.

“We came back into the game in the second half, were spirited and gave ourselves an actual reason to be optimistic at 2-1 with plenty of time left,” the Harrogate chief continued.

“We had 65 percent possession and we were thinking that there was another chance around the corner. I sensed that there was a point there for us. I thought we could get a second, and then you never know, it’s anyone’s game from there.

“Certainly Stockport weren’t in control at that point in the game when we got it back to 2-1 and spirits were lifted.

“But, unfortunately they capitalised on the opportunity they had to add a third. It’s annoying, really frustrating, another soft goal. It was too easy to get the cross in and their lad peeled off at the back post very well.”

Despite Saturday’s loss struggling Town remain 20th in the League Two standings and three points clear of the relegation zone.