Harrogate boss Simon Weaver believes his team are “playing for the badge” after moving into the play-offs following a gutsy 1-0 home win over Colchester.
Veteran striker Jack Muldoon’s “scruffy” 92nd-minute winner – his fourth goal in as many games – lifted the Sulphurites up to seventh in the League Two standings following a contest in which they had been second best for large periods.
After seeing the club equal their best-ever unbeaten EFL run of six league games, Weaver said: “We didn’t click into gear in the first half, but we were still trying to do the right things.
“You can’t always be at your fluid best and what we didn’t do was concede, although our keeper Belly (James Belshaw) also made a phenomenal save, so we have him to thank for that.
“But we have a team that digs in for the badge, which means a great deal.
“They stay in games and that always gives the talent we have in the side the opportunity to rise up.
“They keep on believing when it would be so easy to think it’s not going to be our day.
“You have to have a strong mindset to score the late winners we have done this season and there was a drinks break towards the end of the game when we said to the players that there would be one more chance and we needed to take it.
“It was a scruffy one, but Mullers was on the spot and we found that way to win.”
Few at Wetherby Road would have argued that Danny Cowley’s Colchester did not deserve a share of the spoils, but the ex-Lincoln and Portsmouth boss quickly rubbished any talk of ill fortune.
“When you concede so late on to lose a game, it’s a difficult one to take,” he said.
“We were totally dominant in the game, particularly in the first half, and had 25 shots in total, so it’s disappointing not to score from that number of chances.
“In the second half, I felt we lost our edge a bit, however, and I don’t want anybody in the dressing room thinking we were unlucky to lose because we weren’t.
“When you have dominance in a game, you have to be clinical and we weren’t.
“There’s a lot to admire about Harrogate but, over the course of the game, I thought we were better than them. I genuinely did.
“But you also have to dig deep for 90 minutes in games and that’s why Harrogate won and are where they are in the league. They are hard-working and resilient and that durability is what we need to add to our team.”