Harrogate Town have yet to drop a home point this season

Harrogate Town's new striker James Dean made an impressive debut on Saturday when he scored the third of three first-half goals at Stalybridge.

Town won 3-1 to stay second behind leaders Southport in Blue Square North.

Manager Neil Aspin told BBC Radio York: "If he can keep playing like that, he's going to be a tremendous asset for us.

"It was a great first-half performance by us, we were clinical with the chances that came along."

Aspin said of Dean: "It didn't help us when he went off, he got kicked on the calf and he was struggling at half-time.

I would've never expected to be three goals up against Stalybridge Neil Aspin

Aspin now has four strikers - Dean, Danny Holland, Jamie Smith and Richard Marshall vying for places up front.

"If they play well they'll stay in and if they don't they'll drop out," he added.

Aspin likes his side to play passing football but wet weather has already made that difficult and a more pragmatic approach put paid to Stalybridge.

"The sensible ball was to play it in behind [the Stalybridge defence], we're not going to change by going long ball but we do have to mix our play up.

"Having somebody who's a bit strong, a bit more physical gives you that option. I would've never expected to be three goals up against Stalybridge.

"We're not going to be able to pass the ball all the time and sometimes we might have to go a bit longer."