Promising Signs: Harrogate Town 1-3 Imps

August 13, 2025 Gary EFL Cup, Lincoln City, Matches, Reports 1

Credit Graham Burrell

It looked like a banana skin, just as it proved to be last season. It felt like the days of going to a League Two side and trouncing them had gone.

Bradford. Doncaster. Notts County. All League Two sides we beat away convincingly in this competition in the past. Over the last couple of seasons, that level of control felt to be slipping, in both the EFL Cup and the EFL Trophy. With the added backdrop of a threadbare squad, weaker in terms of personnel and numbers from the one that finished last season, this had disaster written all over it.

It may have taken ten minutes for City to click into gear at Wetherby Road, but once the first goal went in, there was only going to be one winner. A composed second-half performance, peppered with clinical finishing, secured a 3-1 victory and passage into the second round of the League Cup.

For the opening ten minutes, the game was far more even than it should have been. We looked tentative, caught between playing out and going long, with neither method yielding much success. Harrogate’s neat early exchanges caused no real damage, but the longer it stayed goalless, the more encouragement they took. Freddie Draper had an early sight of goal but pulled his effort wide, while a Harrogate header needed a sharp intervention from Zach Jeacock.

In truth, we were guilty of too many safe passes, particularly in midfield. Both Tom Bayliss and Ethan Hamilton were recycling possession without forcing the issue, and the front three of Rob Street, Draper and Erik Ring were left to feed on scraps. We needed a moment to settle down, and it came on 29 minutes.

Street’s persistence won a corner, Hamilton’s delivery caused chaos, and Tom Hamer’s determination kept the ball alive. The excellent Street cushioned a header into Jack Moylan’s path, and he volleyed home emphatically. That was the moment the game tilted firmly in our favour, the nudge over the cliff top that saw Harrogate tumble like those games of old (I say old, it’s only been a couple of years, but you get my drift).

Moylan’s goal could have been the platform for us to kill the tie off before half-time. Draper almost did just that with a powerful header that Mark Oxley kept out with his legs, and Ring went close with a low effort across goal. At the other end, Jeacock was called on to make a strong save from Cursons, but by then we were largely dictating the tempo.

Street’s work rate stood out. He not only set up Moylan’s opener but constantly looked to stretch Harrogate’s back line, switching positions with Draper and Ring to keep the home defence guessing. We had spells of possession where our pace and movement looked like we would eventually overwhelm them, but the second goal remained elusive until after the break.

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