Harrogate Town 0-4 Alfreton Town

Ex-York defender Simon Weaver is in his first season as Town player-boss

Harrogate Town boss Simon Weaver blamed his side's inability to defend set-pieces as they crashed to a heavy Blue Square North home defeat by Alfreton.

Anthony Howell and Ian Ross each scored twice to send Town plummeting to third-bottom in the table.

Weaver told BBC York: "I said beforehand, you pick up your man and make sure he doesn't get a run on you.

"Blow me, after two minutes, Anthony Howell scores a simple header for them from six yards out."

One of Town's five recent signings, Trevor Benjamin, missed a simple header to equalise on 16 minutes before another set-piece goal from Howell hinted at another big defeat for Town.

If I have to spend three hours practising corners, I will

Harrogate boss Simon Weaver

"It's infuriating, because we've been on an upward curve over the last two weeks," added Weaver.

"By and large I believe that they're a decent squad to compete at this level, but very basic things such as picking up at corners has cost us big-time.

"If I have to spend three hours practising corners against, I will, to find the right people who can do those basics well."

Stafford and Bradford Park Avenue have also put four past Town in recent weeks, but Weaver says the display against Alfreton was, in overall terms, far better.

"The quality when we're in possession was there for all to see," he added. "There were some good individual performances, but also some naive performances."

Next up is Saturday's trip to fellow strugglers Solihull Moors (24 October, 1500 BST), a game brought forward to fill the gap caused by Harrogate's FA Cup exit.