Simon Weaver saluted Harrogate’s performance after they claimed a 1-0 win at Colchester.
Sam Folarin grabbed Town’s winner in the 68th minute when he capitalised on a mix-up between Colchester goalkeeper Matt Macey and defender Rob Hunt and tapped into the vacant net.
Colchester created the vast majority of the game’s chances, but Harrogate defended well to secure victory.
Weaver said: “It was always going to be a difficult game because they’ve got a lot of experience in their squad and the quality on their bench to be able to change it and refresh it.
“We weathered a couple of storms out there and didn’t buckle under the strain.
“We kept a clean sheet; there was a phenomenal save by Belly (James Belshaw) from the free-kick but other than that, there’s some defenders showing great vitality in our box, anticipating danger.
“We did what we had to do to preserve a clean sheet and then we looked dangerous on the counter.
“We started growing in confidence and putting two or three passes together without that killer pass at the end of it.
“But in the second half, we looked even more dangerous on the counter attack and it was good to protect our lead and everybody worked so hard for the three points.”
Colchester were frustrated by Harrogate goalkeeper Belshaw, particularly in the first half.
Belshaw brilliantly tipped away Teddy Bishop’s curled free-kick and soon after, made a fine save from Samson Tovide’s powerful shot.
John-Kymani Gordon dragged a shot wide before half-time for Colchester, who had a penalty appeal rejected when Tovide appeared to be pulled back by Matty Foulds in the area.
Belshaw made another fine stop to deny Tovide from point-blank range, before Folarin struck.
Colchester boss Danny Cowley said: “It’s a tough one for us to take.
“I’ve managed nearly 900 games and I can’t remember ever being as dominant and not winning, let alone losing.
“We’ve had 30 shots; we try to stay process-orientated and we did a lot right and our performance was good.
“You could argue that we’re probably not clinical enough and I think that would be a fair criticism.
“Maybe we get a little bit emotional off the back of them scoring and they play a little bit, but it was a pretty good performance. I suppose it’s why we love football.
“Harrogate have done that twice to us since I’ve been here.
“We went to Harrogate and had 24 shots and the goalkeeper made some brilliant saves, and he’s more than entitled to do that so credit to him.
“But for us, we’re going to be a good team and we did a lot right.”
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