Harrogate Town held on to seal three points with a well-rounded 2-1 win in the Yorkshire derby against Bradford City.
First-half goals from Stephen Dooley and Ellis Taylor put The Sulphurites out of sight and despite Andy Cook reducing their advantage, Harrogate held firm throughout the second half to once again beat the Bantams in North Yorkshire.
Despite initial concerns around the fitness of Graham Alexander’s attacking options with the season-ending injury to Joe Adams, Jamie Walker was fit enough to make the starting 11. He stuck with the back-four system that drew with AFC Wimbledon last time out with Neill Byrne and Aden Baldwin returning to training this week.
Simon Weaver handed a first league start for Josh Falkingham after impressing against Liverpool’s academy side in the EFL Trophy. Town had won the clash at Wetherby Road last season, inflicting likely the worst moment of their season onto The Bantams.
But despite the defensive choice, Harrogate struck the first blow, with an error from Cheick Diabate allowing Jack Muldoon to pounce and get 1-on-1 with Sam Walker, but the towering keeper stopped it. Liam Gibson also had a chance to put The Sulphurites ahead, with Walker again keeping City level.
And the pressure paid off, with a ball from Ellis Taylor finding Toby Sims. The American managed to, despite a miskick, get it to Stephen Dooley, who drove home his effort and gave Harrogate a well-deserved lead after 11 minutes.
Town doubled their advantage through Taylor, with James Daly blasting past a helpless Brad Halliday. He cut back to the former Sunderland man who drove home low and gave everyone in North Yorkshire flashbacks to last season’s triumph just 23 minutes in.
City target man Andy Cook finally relieved Bradford’s early woes by dispossessing former Bantam Antony O’Connor, who drove forward and left James Belshaw to half the deficit just five minutes later.
Harrogate almost repaid the favour immediately with the ever-threatening Dooley, who managed to get his shot away but had his effort blocked behind by Jamie Walker. It was reflective of much of the first half hour, where the visitors were restricted to clearing the ball away, usually falling back at the feet of a yellow and black shirt.
The half ended with Town comfortably the better side despite City growing into the game over the latter stages of the first 45.
Graham Alexander, clearly unhappy with the display his side offered in the first half, made three changes after the interval. Jay Benn, Clarke Odour and Callum Kavanagh entered the fray in place of Brad Halliday, Alex Pattison and Oliver Sanderson.
It became a much quieter affair, with City getting some decent chances which they failed to make into serious threats. Harrogate’s defence came to the fore, with James Daly using his physicality to stop Jamie Walker from creating a chance.
Kavanagh finally tested The Sulphurites backline with 20 minutes to go, with a superb ball from Jay Benn falling to the former Middlesbrough man. His effort was deflected for a corner which was dealt with by Gibson and eventually cleared.
Bradford began to shift through the gears as the clock ticked down, causing problems for Weaver’s side but ultimately did not have enough to level the game.
The win propels Harrogate up to 10th place in League Two ahead of the 3pm games on Saturday and gives them a renewed confidence following their disappointment against Crewe Alexandra.
City will be concerned as they fall to their fourth game in a row without a win in the fourth tier, and could fall five points behind the top seven depending on results elsewhere.
Writer’s View
It was a game which Harrogate Town went ahead in the first half but won in the second. It was a brilliant overall performance to clinch the three points and Simon Weaver will love the response his side have shown from last week’s setback. MK Dons will still be adapting to life under Scott Lindsey so Tuesday will be a good chance to get a run going.
If Bradford City do not want to acknowledge this as a derby, they need to win these games and more importantly, get out of League Two. They ultimately did not threaten enough to win that game and deservedly lost. Graham Alexander looked to add new forward options from the bench but they did little to break what became a resolute defensive performance from Town. They will have to come up with new ideas against Morecambe, another team they have slipped up against in the past.
