Witton Albion 0 Harrogate Town 0

UniBond Division One

Saturday, April 20

HARROGATE Town picked up the point they needed to secure the UniBond Division One championship on Saturday, but Witton boss Benny Phillips is more concerned with the progress his side is making.

The runaway leaders didn't trouble home goalkeeper Kevin Whitehead once during the 90 minutes, and although they seemed happy to sit back and settle for that vital point, Phillips was pleased with his side's final home performance of the campaign.

He said: "Harrogate have walked away with the league, but the reason they didn't show it on Saturday was because of the way we played.

"They still needed something from the game to make it mathematically safe so nobody can say they weren't trying.

"We still have plenty to play for ourselves. The games we have left aren't end of season games, I still want the players to perform.

"We've become hard to beat and with the experience of this year, if we can keep this side together and make one or two additions it will stand us in good stead to challenge for the top five next year."

Phillips' assertion that Albion are tough to beat has been proven by their recent run of six games without defeat.

It never looked like ending on Saturday, but on an unpredictable and over-used pitch, it was also going to be difficult to break Harrogate down at the other end.

Brian Prithcard was adamant he should have had a penalty when veteran ex-Leeds defender Neil Aspin appeared to pull him down in the 28th minute, while Witton's early efforts were all off target.

However, Carl Rendell almost repeated his feat of a week earlier against Belper by making a breakthrough in first half stoppage time, Ashley Connor diving across to keep his drive out.

But this was the only shot on target in the opening 45 minutes and things got scarcely better in the second half despite Pritchard and centre back partner Wes Simpson causing havoc in the visitors' box.

Although Pritchard and Rendell were the only survivors from the away league fixture at Harrogate way back in August, Witton can still take pride in the fact that they have held the champions to a goalless draw in both encounters.

Witton: Whitehead, Hughes, Barrow, Pritchard, Simpson, Clegg, Rose, Cunningham, Mallinson (Heys 77), Burton (Lillis 61), Rendell. Sub not used: Crompton. Attendance: 375.