Harrogate 0 Telford 1 - Report and pictures

Sub Grogan's first-half header was enough for Rob Smith's side to secure three more points at an impressive Harrogate outfit in Yorkshire.

It was a second consecutive clean sheet for the Bucks, who somehow survived an early onslaught from the hosts and saw out a nerve-jangling victory to climb into 17th place.

Many predicted an electric opening and having expected to soak up pressure from the high-flying hosts, Telford very much had goalkeeper James Montgomery to thank for not capitulating early on.

Harrogate had added livewire striker Liam Hearn to their ranks earlier in the week.

The potent frontman has scored for fun at the likes of Grimsby Town and Alfreton Town and should have opened his Town account early on here.

The lively right-sided man Joe Colbeck fizzed an early cross across the Telford six-yard box and it proved to pacy for the hosts attack, with Hearn closest to adding a finish.

But little more than 10 minutes in and Montgomery was called into action.

AFC Telford United: Montgomery, Samuels, Campion, Tilt, Hutchison (Grogan, 24); Rea ©, Wynter, Dawson, Wilson; Cofie (Hibbert, 68), McCarthy (Reid, 85)

Unused substitutes: Clancy, Osei.

Harrogate Town: Crook, Turner, Swain, Platt, Ellis ©, McGurk, Colbeck (Emmett, 57), Kerry, Clayton, Hearn (Thewliss, 57), Daniels (Knowles, 69)

Unused substitutes: Foster, Thirlwell.

Attendance: 699

Top scorer Brandan Daniels dug out a left-wing cross which found an unmarked Hearn whose header stings Montgomery's palms from six yards.

The more worrying sign for manager Rob Smith and assistant Larry Chambers would be having Hearn and a number of other Town attackers free and totally unmarked.

The Bucks were leaving bodies forward, though, and looked looked to add to their 10 goals in three games, as John Cofie broke down the left and cut inside to curl wide of the far post via a deflection.

Within moments, Connor McCarthy had fired a fierce 20-yard drive down the throat of home goalkeeper Peter Crook, a terrific drive with minimum back-lift that burst into the No 1's midriff.

Following a short stint of Bucks possession and territory, their defence issues were highlighted again.

Crook's long ball was flicked by Paul Clayton onto Hearn who bore down on Montgomery, with the Bucks shot-stopper making himself big and blocking the finish.

The Bucks' back-line were struggling to deal with the hosts in open play and set pieces.

A corner wasn't cleared properly and centre-half David McGurk found himself in at a tight angle, but was again denied by Montgomery.

More shoddy marking from a corner allowed Colbeck to pull his set-piece back to an unmarked Daniels, who had an age to pick his spot but Tilt did well to get his body in the way of the goal-bound strike.

It took until the half hour mark for the visitors to really find their feet and grab a hold of themselves.

By that time, they had lost defender Graham Hutchison, who hobbled off and was replaced by Grogan.

It also looked like skipper Jack Rea was heading off with a recurrence of his knee troubles, but he soldiered on.

Both Cofie and McCarthy worked themselves into presentable openings down the right channel as the half wore on.

Jordan Wynter and Lucas Dawson distribution was sharp and creative, but Smith's men were slightly lacking in the final third.

With five minutes of the opening period remaining, a Dawson corner from the right was met by Tilt's downwards header which avoided everyone until Lewis Turner rose to clear it off the line.

It was a warning to Harrogate and the failed to learn from it.

A significant period of added time due to Hutchison and Rea's injuries allowed time for Dawson's 47th minute free-kick to be met by Grogan, who crouched to nod his header beyond Crook.

Following a quite deliberate period where Harrogate were waiting for a reluctant Telford to emerge for the second-half, the hosts didn't seem to learn their lesson on Grogan.

Dawson's corner a matter of 90 seconds into the second-half was again met by Grogan whose header was this time cleared off the line by Lloyd Kerry, inches away from a second for the sub.

Despite the turnaround, the Bucks were indebted to their number one again as Tilt's carelessness on the edge of his own box was almost punished.

Hearn, who should have had two early on, robbed the Telford defender and again found the unmoveable Montgomery.

Colbeck seemed to have an easy task to finish the rebound but with covering defenders he could only blast it over the top.

A flurry of changes didn't help the flow of the edgy encounter, as the half wore on, the home and visiting supporters became more tense.

Matters at the top and bottom of the National League North table were at stake on a mild afternoon in North Yorkshire.

Sub Dominic Knowles showed some graft and invention to cut inside but scuffed an effort wide from outside the box.

Montgomery showed more heroics to acrobatically tip over a free-kick from Daniels.

Sub Jordan Thewliss found himself on the end of a left-sided cross with five minutes remaining but he couldn't get connection on his volley and it skids gratefully into Montgomery's hands.