Harrogate Town opinion: Rochdale AFC trip began badly, but ended up providing so many reasons to feel encouraged

Following our cup defeat to a very limited Hartlepool team seven days earlier, I was approaching Saturday’s visit to Rochdale with a good deal of trepidation.

Town have produced some of the best football I’ve ever seen them play in recent weeks at Wetherby Road, but it’s fair to say they’ve struggled on the road, shipping three goals each to Walsall, AFC Wimbledon and Hartlepool, and handing struggling Colchester a rare win.

My nervous disposition wasn’t eased by the absence of attacking options Alex Pattison and Jack Muldoon joining eight other first-teamers on the treatment table, and the suspension of the solid Joe Mattock at centre-back.

Despite a bright Town start in the pale December sun, Rochdale opened the scoring inside seven minutes, far too easily from one of those corners where everyone except the home goalkeeper seemed to be in the six-yard box, and I was resigned to a tough afternoon’s watch.

Thankfully the players had other ideas, nicking possession in midfield on 14 minutes, with George Thomson taking advantage of the sort of room we’ve been guilty of providing to other teams in the past and driving a twenty-five-yarder past the home goalkeeper. It was thirty-five yards if you read the BBC’s report on the game.

By the time the dark, winter cold smothered a restless Spotland, Town were fully three goals to the good and heading for their biggest away win in the Football League since their debut appearance all the way down at Southend in 2020, and those hardy 140 travelling fans were being given a trip to remember.

More importantly, it opened up a five-point buffer between Town and the relegation places.

Much has been made of the way our young, close-season loanee arrivals have grown in stature in recent weeks yet, with the exception of Danny Grant, the much-needed attacking options we bought in on the last night of the transfer window haven’t yet hit those heights.

On Saturday Josh Coley and Sam Folarin both staked a claim and the wisdom of those last-minute additions finally bore fruit. Without them, Town would have been distinctly threadbare up front; with them we made ‘Dale look distinctly ordinary.

It’s a recent tradition at this time of year that the small Town squad tends to buckle under the weight of injuries and fatigue.

A number of factors this year may help us buck this trend, namely a larger squad, those younger legs, a slightly less-dense December fixture list due to the World Cup, no more cup fixtures and a recent up-tick in confidence and form throughout the squad.

The biggest relief though, is the welcome return to goal-scoring form of centre-forward Luke Armstrong. Whilst his effort for the team has never been in doubt, he’s seemed a shadow of the player who hit the ground running at the start of 2021/22, at times ploughing a lonely furrow in a team creating very little.

Although still a willing runner, he’s now able to concentrate on what he does best, and that’s finishing off crosses into the area. That he’s able to do that speaks volumes for the support he’s now getting from a team that’s high in self-belief and managing to create chances going forward.

“Sometimes, the best form of defence is attack,” stated a euphoric Simon Weaver after the game. Apart from his use of the word “sometimes”, I couldn’t agree more.