Interview with Harrogate Town boss Simon Weaver ahead of the weekend's League Two derby clash against Yorkshire rivals Doncaster Rovers
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00:00 It seems like an age away now, that first game of the season. I think those teams have
00:12 evolved since then and changed quite a bit. But they've picked up two really good results
00:16 in the last two games against two top opponents as well. So it promises to be a hard game.
00:22 And of course, defeat against Chandmer, but that was after a good run of form at home.
00:26 So what do you think we need to do to get back to winning ways and even get a positive
00:30 result against Lancaster as well?
00:32 I think it's more of the same in terms of how we've gone about things. We've played
00:37 well for at least six, seven, possibly eight games on the bounce now. It's just important
00:42 that we show the same amount of consistency with our approach and the way the players
00:48 equip themselves. We need to show good energy and that breath of respite will help in doing
00:54 so. But yeah, they've changed the way they've gone about it in the last couple of games
00:59 after the three games that preceded that and it's paid off for them.
01:05 Of course you speak about consistency and performance levels, but that starts at training.
01:09 Have you noticed anything different with the lads or is it very much business as usual
01:11 with them regardless of the results?
01:15 With our lads, they're a hungry bunch and they want to accumulate as many points as
01:20 quickly as possible. We try to be pragmatic about it and make sure that we try and stretch
01:27 that distance between us and the bottom section of the league. That's not been that ambitious.
01:33 We really are, but we feel that we'll play with greater freedom still and continue with
01:38 the flowing football approach that we've been trying to produce in the recent weeks if we
01:43 can keep going and keep going with the same things and keep trying to get the ball down
01:48 and play. We have to be astute because Doncaster really pressed them cadence really well with
01:54 high intensity out on the pitch. So we have to find ways around that without just lumping
02:01 it forward at every opportunity.
02:02 Yeah, and of course to do that we need high energy levels. How has this week been in terms
02:06 of recovery for the lads because they have played a lot of football but you want to make
02:10 sure they're back to their best come Saturday?
02:13 I think it's as much mental as anything. Obviously two days off helped with both the mental side
02:20 and physically because there's such a high workload over recent days and weeks. So that's
02:27 helped and it also helps to train a bit of sunshine. It's been relentless this bad weather
02:33 but everybody's in a good mood. They're showing good belief and good camaraderie and you need
02:39 that in a Yorkshire derby.
02:40 How is your mood getting into game eight? Hopefully having any more lads back from injury?
02:46 Hoping so. We had a few nurses and a few wounds that have come in yesterday for some treatment.
02:53 So we'll assess their fitness because a few just really did work the socks off over recent
03:00 games and we'll see their freshness in training and make a judgement call after that.
03:04 [END]
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