6 hours Ago
It was the home side who looked the more likely throughout what was an attritional and largely uneventful contest, though the Us boss was of the opinion that his team “should win the game.” Colchester did have more of the ball, particularly during the second half, but on a night when both teams struggled to create clear-cut goal-scoring opportunities it was hard to make a case for either of them deserving victory. Cowley, however, was adamant United should have returned to Essex with maximum points.
“Ultimately, my overriding emotion is disappointment that we couldn’t turn that control and rhythm that we had into more chances,” he said. “We are pleased that we’ve kept another clean sheet but we will leave here frustrated that we haven’t won the game because we should win the game, we had so much control. “We had really good control, which is never easy away from home, particularly on a difficult, slow pitch.
So, for us to play with the control that we did should be applauded.” Colchester failed to force Harrogate goalkeeper James Belshaw into a single save of any note, with Fiacre Kelleher nodding arguably their best opportunity over the crossbar shortly after Harry Anderson had shot into the side-netting from the edge of the box. Cowley did concede his players lacked sufficient cutting edge to really hurt their hosts.
“We got into so many good areas in this game but we unfortunately lacked quality,” he added. “I cannot fault the effort or the attitude, which I thought was excellent. I thought we had really good control against an awkward team.
They are a tough team to play against because every time you break, they tactically foul which is pretty frustrating. “But when we got into advanced areas, we hit the first man too often. We just lacked technical execution.
There was a lot of effort, a lot of endeavour, but you need quality if you are going to win, particularly away from home.” Harrogate boss Simon Weaver was not too disappointed with a share of the spoils and was far more complimentary about the opposition’s efforts. “I’m quite satisfied,” he said.
“We set out to get the three points but both defences had to be admired tonight. They were very difficult to break down, and we were too. “We wish that we had been a bit more creative in the final third and shown a bit more end product, but you’ve got to give credit to Colchester.
They were well-organised and well-drilled, so fair play to them.”.
