Harrogate new Town 0 Eastwood old Town 1

Disappointing but thought we might have held on for a draw. Sending off was in my view a genuine attempt to play the ball and was harsh to say the least. Did anyone notice Mark Hume shove our defender while the ball was coming over, which just gave him a free yard. Massive difference in styles. Eastwood will cause alot of teams problems this season and I thought they bossed the first half. What happened to Curtis Woodhouse ? He was named over the tannoy but didn't start and his class could have made a big difference.

Roll on the long trip on Tuesday.

S

Mark Hume is a fa****. He was being such a cocky arse today aswell as blatently hand balling in the area. It was a close game but we had opportunites to shoot did we take them no. I thought we held on well till the end. We played alot of width with Durham today and he played really well ah well Humeys typical shoving players before heading a ball

Fairly decent performance by Town today. Was always going to be a struggle without Woodhouse in midfield. McTiernan could be an important player for Town and we struggled after his sending off. Personally I felt the referee had pretty decent game and the sendnig off was fair. Perhaps need to find a way of creating more chances though - defence looks pretty solid but we don't offer a great deal going forward. Some encouraging signs though - Burell could be a useful player for us and Durham is quick and direct. I couldn't understand the need to replace him.
Not sure about Eastwood - average to good side, top 8 I would've thought. Didn't offer much until Smithy came on (one of my favourite former town players) Humey is still extremely dangerous at this level, overweight he may be, but great in the air and always a threat from set pieces. Danny was fairly quiet today, but given an opportunity will usually make it count.
On the basis of today's performance I honestly can't see Town challenging for the play-offs - more likely mid-table in my opnion.

I must admit that I thought we had done enough for a draw at least. Eastwood were a stern test and it was good to see some of the old boys back again!

John Lamb handled well and did what was needed, some good saves and seems to be growing in confidence at this level.

The defence did well, they handled the front two of Holland and Knox well. I think Danny was reduced to 2/3 shots. Simon and Matthew seem to be developing a right understanding. Matthew was unlucky with his shot, needed a blast rather then a place but them's the brakes. Leon Scott had a very composed game and Simon Harrison didn't looked fazed at all.

Midfield was a little shocked after Curtis withdrew in warn up and Warren needed to come into it a bit more but some great runs from the lad (he can cross a ball!) Dave was his typical workhorse in the midfield, sending off was a little harsh as surley Mark Smith should have gone for the same thing a couple of minutes later! Brian Dutton never missed a header but needed just to come into the game a little more - very promising player though!

Luke Durham was excellent going forward - has some real pace. Jon maloney had a quiet game by his standards but always looks dangerous and nearly gave us the lead. Chris Emms again looked dangerous and was unlucky that Turner in the Eastwood goal was havng his "goalkeeper of the season" display against us.

All in all, not a bad display by any means, good passing football again at the CNG, the result was unlucky but it's goals that win matches and Eastwood got theirs (why Humey why!)and fair play to them, they could definately be a play-off contender come April next season.

Some photos that I took:

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I enjoyed the game although the windy conditions didn't help
Eastwood are very direct - down both channels
Relying on corners and other set pieces
Town looked strong defensively which made the winning goal hard to swallow
Ollie Ryan looks a bit off the pace atm
Injuries / suspensions / loss of form - this is when the 20 man squad will be needed - I hope Simon is using the Reserves to give our bench players some much needed pitch time
I thought the ref was excellent yesterday

I wonder whats happend to Zeph Thomas? we signed him but hasnt got on to the bench yet i know its early days but im just wondering he adds abit of pace up front.

Disappointing, but not too depressed about Saturday. I would have put money on a 0-0 before the sending off, still feel a bit sick that it was Hume who got the winner. Defence does look solid, midfield a bit 'light' without Woodhouse, scoring goals likely to be the problem I fear. Hope we can bounce back on Tuesday, don't want a losing run to start. Decent crowd too, pity the team seldom seems to perform well when the numbers are up.
Solihull on Saturday will be interesting, they are verl likely to be one of the weakest teams inthe league so we need to beat them well.
Belated congrats on the programme as well BRM, absolutely superb this season, last years was good, this is even better!

Cheers for the comments paulstreet, much appreciated.

Not a bad game - before the sending off I thought we were set for a draw, which would have been a fair result considering the blatant penalty that the linesman somehow missed in the first half.

A pretty even game considering the teams had drastically different styles. Eastwood will do ok - you need a bit of physical presence in this league, but they dont have much more to offer. Probably be top half but cant see them doing any better unless they add a bit of skill to the squad. On the flip side, Town have the skill but need a bit of muscle to compete. We also really really need to practise dead balls - we completely wasted most of them on Saturday.

Danny still doesnt look the player he was a couple of seasons ago either....

Looking from afar, the signs are promising for Town finishing comfortably in mid-table.
Corby have won all three so far and Eastwood will be in the shake-up for a play-off place (with about eight other sides!!), so we have had a fairly difficult start.
The 3-0 win over Vauxhall is put into more perspective considering they almost beat Gainsborough and Alfreton (two strongly fancied sides this term) in their other two games.
Some interesting fixtures mid-week in, what will be a very keenly contested top end of the table this season.