Harrogate Town (H) - League 2 - 5th January 2025
Is this a wake-up call I see before me?
Alarm bells are now deafening. The team: Silent, numb, inert, scared. Sub-subdued. On stand-by. Do not disturb. Flight mode activated. Terrified of their own shadows.
BAFC 24/25 mk II; stalled in the driveway, windscreen wipers flapping around bleakly, madly, dumb. The windscreen frosted, GPS navigation on a loop.
Headlines?
The first half passed as a series of holding patterns, a Mahoney header persuading Belshaw into action with a save. The crowd displaying deep January blues needed a prompt from the team, but the line was not forthcoming. Expectations simultaneously high and low - how many times have the very “worst” teams taken us apart at a time when a comfortable win was on the coupon? Bath City. Forest Green. Morecambe.
Later, various lightweight forwards buzzed to little effect against an opposition who knew they’d done enough.
Between times?
Simply the wrong way to play albeit probably with the right players. Dallas ran the channels well three days ago, so today we hit high balls into the void between the two forwards. Acquah magnetically attracting two or three defenders at every touch, yet we couldn’t make use of the space left. Canavan, returning but tentative, not imperious as we’ve come to expect. Farman, harried into early action, never settled, distribution not quite there. As a unit, shaken by an apparent shoulder injury to Kyle Cameron, formation reshaped but ever more fragile.
Left boots on right hands (the left hand oblivious) the left foot kicking ourselves, the right foot finding only space recently vacated.
We’re a doughnut of a team with a delicious, creamy filling, except that the custard has been diluted to homeopathic levels. Gotts and Spence work hard and have talent, but where is the control? Everything filtered wide, then fed back, shifted wide once more, before meek crosses into waiting arms. Whatever formation we play, two central midfielders isn’t working.
And so Harrogate ruled the centre, able to probe and prod and win a series of corners, and thus the first and, ultimately, fatal blow came. All too often, it only takes one goal. Any subsequent periods of semi-dominance left us ragged and easily picked off - and thus the second.
What caused concern was the players’ sheer apathy after each goal; empty, or emptied, or tired, or unmotivated?
The penalty prompted a moment of high farce. The miss: inescapable somehow. In less fraught times, reflection would be upon a healthy contingent from the Manchester Branch; a chance encounter with Sheena the dog off for a mooch around Carnforth with her partially sighted owner; why London beer is terrible; note-perfect Brian Clough impressions; young Harrogate fans playing the role of hard lads; and whether Cameron would be able to drive his car home.
Any positives? Spence returned and was seemingly “at it”. It’s always good to see Canavan back in the side, and perhaps he needs a couple of games to ease his way in - can we afford that now?
But the underlying feeling is raw frustration at a missed opportunity, and a bleak battle against relegation lying ahead.
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