Harrogate Town 0 Blackburn Rovers 3 Att.443
A crowd of almost 450 saw Town go down to a 0-3 defeat against a youthful Blackburn Rovers X1.
After an even first 20 minutes in which neither side could fashion a meaningful attempt at goal,Rovers upped the tempo.
A dazzling move between Micah Evans,Osayamen Osawe and John O’Sullivan saw Mark Cook save at the near post.
On twentysix minutes Cook had to pull out a brilliant save to keep out Evans’s header from a Jamie Knowles free kick,but he was beaten seconds later when Osawe hammered a loose ball into the roof of the net.
Town tried to level with skipper Ian Ross testing Chris Dillo with a free kick and Adam Nowakowski heading Laurie Wilson’s corner over the bar.
In the dying embers of the first half Cook made two fantastic saves from Evans and Jamie MacLaren to keep Town in the game.
Eight minutes into the second half O’Sullivan gained possession in midfield and lashed an unstoppable thirty yard drive past Cook to double the score.
Worryingly for Harrogate their forwards were unable to mount any serious threat to the Rovers goal and sub Liam Hardy squandered Town’s only second half chance when he miskicked after being sent clear by Paul Brayson’s defence splitting through ball.
Meanwhile,at the other end Cook turned a Knowles drive round the post,Robbie Cotton shot narrowly wide and Curtis Haley struck the upright as Rovers dominated.
It was no surprise when after 82 minutes sub Jaden Hall drove in Rover’s third after only being on the field a matter of seconds.
So Town go into Saturday’s final pre-season friendly against Darlington still seeking their first win.
Rebecca Wilson of Blackburn Rovers
Blackburn also bought along 17 year old Rebecca Wilson who plays in their Ladies reserve team. Rebecca is from Harrogate and travels to Blackburn most days. She has also had a couple of try-outs for the Ireland’s Ladies team and being at the start of her career, is looking for sponsorship to help her progress.
