Harrogate chief Weaver not interested in 'condescending plaudits' following FA Cup exit at Luton

Harrogate forward Luke Armstrong puts this opportunity wide during yesterday's FA Cup defeat at Kenilworth Road

Harrogate Town boss Simon Weaver wasn’t taking any solace in the ‘condescending plaudits’ his side might receive following their 4-0 FA Cup third round exit at the hands of Luton Town yesterday.

There’ll no doubt be one or two in this article as the League Two Sulphurites turned up at Kenilworth Road and looked excellent in the first half, with few knowing which side was the one 45 places higher in the footballing pyramid.

Although Town led through Elijah Adebayo’s wonderful 18th minute strike out of nothing, arrowing into the bottom corner from 20 yards, the visitors had by far the better of the opportunities, particularly on the right, with Ryan Fallowfield getting in a number of dangerous positions, only to lack a final ball.

Huddersfield loanee Brahima Diarra also caught the eye, bossing the midfield at times, as despite Luton going 2-0 up early in the second period through Cameron Jerome's close-range finish, a late rally by the visitors should have seen them grab at least one consolation for their efforts

Diarra missed when one-on-one with James Shea, the Hatters keeper making a superb save from top scorer Luke Armstrong and also finger-tipping another effort from Diarra behind.

When asked if he felt done by with the flattering scoreline, Weaver said: “To be honest I don’t as a big part of the game is being ruthless when you create the chances.

“That’s one of the hardest parts of the game is creating, but you must finish the chances when they come by, we had plenty of chances, but we didn’t put any in the net.

“Then defensively, we contributed to all the goals that we conceded, so we have to keep on being better.

"We don’t want the unlucky tag, lots of nice passing, good on the eye, good enough to cut a Championship team open, but the result was 4-0 so we’re disappointed.

“It’s lovely on the eye, I’m sure we’ll get some condescending plaudits on the way but the outcome is we lost the game 4-0 and it should have been better.

"We have to not hide behind the facts we created an incredible amount of chances but we didn't stick them away."