Harrogate Town boss proud of 'fighting spirit' in dramatic win against 'talented' Chesterfield

The hosts took the lead when Toby Sims reacted quickest to smash in a rebound after Stephen Duke-McKenna’s free-kick came back off the post. The Spireites complained that Armando Dobra had won the ball on the edge of his own box and they had a strong case.

James Berry came off the bench and seconds later he curled an equaliser into the top corner for his ninth of the season and it looked like the Blues would be the team to go and win it but Harrogate countered and Dean Cornelius drilled in another rebound. Again, Chesterfield had a case that play should have been stopped after the ball hit referee John Mulligan in the build-up.

Weaver said: “It was a brilliant feeling and I think we deserved it overall. I thought the fighting spirit was there for everyone to see and I hope the supporters are proud of the efforts and intensity of the display today against a top team – they are very talented.

"We set-up 4-2-3-1 and were really tight out of possession. We can only do that with legs and willing bodies. Obviously things changed when they made four changes and eight seconds later the ball was in the back of the net. We were still trying to fathom in eight seconds what system that they had changed to but then we changed again. We then went 4-4-2 to have two up top against their back three and it paid off because we got down the sides so it was a great team effort. Our thought process was just to win the game and play attacking, intense football.”

Chesterfield return to league action next weekend at home to Barrow.