Alassana Jatta double sinks Harrogate and boosts Notts County’s promotion hopes

Alassana Jatta’s brace gave Notts County’s automatic promotion hopes a boost as they won 2-0 at struggling Harrogate in Sky Bet League Two.

The Gambia international took his season’s goal tally to 15 as the Magpies capitalised fully on the lunchtime kick-off to climb above Cambridge into the top three.

Simon Weaver’s toothless Harrogate, meanwhile, missed out on an opportunity to move out of the bottom two, where they have now been mired since mid-December.

Jatta opened the scoring in the 10th minute, tapping in at the far post after Tom Iorpenda had burst through the right channel and sent in a low ball across the face of the home six-yard box.

He might have added a second moments later but was denied by an excellent recovery block by Cathal Heffernan.

Harrogate belatedly found an attacking threat following the 71st-minute introduction of Emile Acquah with fellow sub Stephen Duke-McKenna forcing a good save from former Wetherby Road team-mate James Belshaw and Jacob Slater firing narrowly wide from distance.

But Jatta sealed the outcome in the 79th minute, stealing ahead of Sulphurites defender Liam Gibson to get a touch on Jodi Jones’ low cross, before swivelling to smack a clinical eight-yard shot into the roof of the net.