How Harrogate Town's mauling by Mansfield Town compares to their worst-ever league defeat

Although they conceded one less, the margin of defeat was greater when they went down 8-0 to Championship outfit Blackburn Rovers in the League Cup second round on August 30.

There is no logic to the fact the Sulphurites have suffered these two thrashings - and a 5-1 FA Cup thumping by Bolton Wanderers - during what has been, to date, their most successful campaign as a Football League club.

Simon Weaver’s men have spent the vast majority of the past three terms scrapping away at the wrong end of English football’s fourth tier, finishing those seasons 17th, 19th and 19th out of 24 teams.

By contrast, 2023/24 has seen Town emerge as genuine play-off contenders. They currently sit eighth in the table, only beneath Notts County - who occupy the division’s final play-off spot - on goal-difference.

Indeed, they were actually sat inside the top seven prior to their game at Mansfield on Tuesday evening, and the fact that they had lost just one of their previous 11 league matches makes the nature of that loss even more difficult to fathom.

Harrogate had actually won seven of their previous 10, which is a superb run by any team’s standards, never mind a side that was widely tipped to be relegated back to the National League before a ball was kicked this summer.

Such statistics only serve to underline how far Weaver and his troops have come since the start of the current campaign, let alone since their days in non-league, when humiliating defeats to far less auspicious opponents than Blackburn and Mansfield were a lot more common.

Shipping nine at Mansfield is one thing, but how does that compare to being routed by Methley United in a West Yorkshire League fixture ?

That 10-1 hammering, which took place all the way back in 1956/57, is Town’s worst-ever and worst league loss.

Thanks to information provided by club historian Phil Harrison, the Harrogate Advertiser has put together a list of the Sulphurites’ heaviest league reverses over the years before Weaver took the helm.

Harrogate Town’s heaviest league losses:

2000/01     1-8   v     Vauxhall Motors (away)

1989/90     1-7   v     Leek Town (away)

1978/79     1-7   v     Pickering Town (away)

1969/70     1-9   v     Hull Brunswick (away)

1968/69     2-8   v     Leeds Ashley Road (away)

1968/69     1-7   v     Scarborough Reserves (away)

1966/67     1-8   v     Hatfield Main (away)

1966/67     1-8   v     Bridlington Trinity (away)

1966/67     1-7   v     Scarborough Reserves (away)

1956/57     1-10  v     Methley United (home).

As far as boss Weaver is concerned, his worst league defeat as Town manager prior to Tuesday’s disaster at Mansfield was a 6-0 Conference North loss at Alfreton during the 2010/11 campaign.

As a League Two manager, his most forgettable evening in the dug-out in terms of goals against (pre-Mansfield) came when an injury-ravaged Harrogate side was thumped 5-2 at home by Scunthorpe United in their first season in the Football League.

But his heaviest fourth-tier losses both came against Newport County, who have beaten Town 4-0 on two occasions.

They also lost by the same margin during that FA Cup loss to League One Bolton earlier this term, going down 5-1.

Harrogate Town’s worst league losses under Simon Weaver (pre-2023/24):

2022/23 0-4 v Newport County (home)

2021/22 0-4 v Newport County (away)

2020/21     2-5   v Scunthorpe (home)

2016/17     1-4   v Darlington (home)

2014/15     2-5   v Boston Utd (away)

2013/14     2-5   v Gloucester (away)

2011/12     2-5   v Altrincham (away)

2010/11     3-6   v Boston Utd (home)

2010/11     0-6   v Alfreton Town (away)

2010/11     1-5   v Droylsden (away)

2009/10     0-5   v Droylsden (away).