Simon Weaver hails ‘professional’ display as struggling Harrogate beat Tranmere

Harrogate boss Simon Weaver felt his side showed professionalism as they climbed off the foot of the League Two table with an impressive 3-0 victory over Tranmere at Prenton Park.

Town struck early and never looked back, taking the lead after nine minutes when Reece Smith burst through the middle and calmly slotted past Marko Marosi.

Town doubled their advantage just two minutes later with a swift counter-attack, Jack Evans racing clear before teeing up Chanse Headman to finish.

Headman grabbed his second six minutes before the break, left unmarked to prod home from six yards after Tom Hill’s good work down the right.

Harrogate remained in control after the interval, limiting Tranmere’s chances while continuing to threaten on the break.

The victory could prove crucial in Harrogate’s fight for survival, while Tranmere, who left the field to a chorus of boos, are now without a win in seven and dangerously close to the drop zone.

Harrogate manager Weaver, whose side ended a run of two consecutive defeats, said: “I felt right from the off we showed our intent and belief in the way we played.

“To get those two early goals gave the whole group a real buzz and a tonic that’s needed.

“We’re in a scrap, we know that, but we saw the whole team battle for every duel and then get it down and play with some real positive intent. We played some good football tonight.

“Hopefully this will give us another boost of confidence levels and we’ll go again.

“I was really motivated to keep the clean sheet tonight, especially when we went 3-0 up, and I thought we were thoroughly professional.

“It’s that concentration and mindset to make sure we are uncompromising to the end.

“There are plenty of twists and turns to come but we’re going to enjoy waking up tomorrow morning.

“It’s hard and it’s been hard for months, but the lads having a day off tomorrow will be waking up tomorrow morning thinking we’ve done a great job as a unit gives us a great lift.”

New Tranmere manager Pete Wild, following his first home game in charge, said: “You can’t go from being as aggressive as we were at Fleetwood on Saturday and then be as weak as we were tonight.

“The three goals we conceded were ridiculous, absolutely ridiculous.

“The story of the game is that we lose three tackles, we don’t defend two set-pieces and we lose 3-0 and that’s frustrating.

“I said to the players that I picked the wrong team tonight.

“You come in and you want to try and freshen things up and I wanted to go after Harrogate, but it’s clear tonight that was a mistake.

“We have to be resolute, we have to defend for our lives and try and we’re going to have to hit teams on the counter and with set-pieces.

“For anybody who wants free-flowing football over the next eight games, I don’t think it’s going to be like that, we’re going to have to defend for our lives.

“I’m here to do a specific job and now that specific job focuses on being hard to beat in every game.”