Harrogate Town put their Sutton disappointment behind them as they defeated Torquay United 2-1 at the CNG Stadium.
Simon Weaver made three changes from in the Town line up,with Lloyd Kerry making a start and Alex Bradley and Brendan Kiernan being recalled,while Jack Emmett and Jack Diamond dropped onto the bench and Ryan Fallowfield was unavailable through illness.
Town were the first to attack with Jack Muldoon shooting just wide with a shot on the turn,while at the other end,two Torquay free kicks amounted to nothing,
But it took Town only until the tenth minute to take the lead when Bradley broke into the Gull’s area and got in a shot which took a slight deflection past Lucas Covolan.
The game was taking time to catch alight,but Jon Stead almost doubled Town’s lead when he almost squeezed an overhead kick from Kiernan, inside the upright.
The Gulls were finding it hard going against a Town defence in which Will Smith and Connor Hall were outstanding and their main threats came from set pieces.
Connor Lemonheigh-Evans blasted high over the bar from a corner,while Jamie Reid’s teasing centre across Town’s goal found no Torquay striker to turn it into the net.
The half ended with Muldoon breaking out of defence and racing clear to curl a shot just wide of the Gull’s post.
Immediately after the break,Muldoon was in action again, when he unleashed a powerful drive goalwards which Covolan could only save at the second attempt.
However,Town were not to be denied and they doubled their lead on fiftysix minutes with a well crafted goal.
Kiernan found Mitch Hancox on the left and he made ground before finding Jon Stead unmarked in the area and he drove a left foot shot into the top corner beyond the reach of Covolon.
Town appeared to be well on top and Josh Falkingham went close with a well struck drive from the edge of the area.
Torquay made three substitutions in an effort to rescue something out of the game and on sixty-eight minutes they pulled one back.
Ben Whitfield,who had been providing a string of crosses from the left,was brought down in the area by Bradley.The prolific Reid blasted the resulting penalty into the top corner to set up an interesting finish.
Although sub,Ruari Keating shot at Belshaw from Ben Wynter’s pass,Town had little difficulty in holding on to their lead and subsequently moved up to sixth spot in the table.
Town
Belshaw,W Smith,Hall,Hancox,Bradley,Falkingham(c),Kerry,Thomson,Kiernan(Emmett 74),Stead,Muldoon(Diamond 80).
Unused subs,Brown,Cracknell,G Smith
Scorers,Bradley 10,Stead 56. Man of the Match, Bradley.
Torquay United,
Covolon,Wynter,Cameron,Lewis,Andrews,Lemonheigh-Evans,Reid,Kalala(Keating60),Bansal-McNulty((Koue Niate),Cundy(Lewington 62),Whitfield.
Unused subs,Macdonald,Buse.
Scorer,Reid 68pen. Att.1348(294 away).
Booked,Lewis
Referee,James Bell.
