Harrogate Town v AFC Wimbledon: Sulphurites have feelgood factor heading into crunch time of League Two campaign

The Wetherby Road outfit head into Good Friday’s clash with AFC Wimbledon 20th in the League Two standings, just four points clear of the relegation zone - albeit with a game in hand on all of the sides currently beneath them.

Town’s third League Two campaign has been one of struggle and has seen them bag just nine victories thus far in 38 attempts.

But, having conducted some canny January business which saw them sign an entirely new back-four as well as influential midfielder Levi Sutton and the dangerous Kazeem Olaigbe, they have looked a much better side.

Two of those nine wins have come from their previous four matches, while Simon Weaver’s team have become much harder to beat, losing just twice in 10 outings.

They will tackle the Dons having taken seven points from a possible 12 on offer and club captain Falkingham is taking nothing for granted.

"There is still a hell of a long way to go, we know the situation that we are in and that we have got eight cup finals coming up, but we are feeling really positive,” he said.

"Going into every single game with a positive mindset is something that we’ve always tried to do during my time here, that’s the environment that we’ve created, but we’re feeling good because we’ve been putting in performances.

“If you look at our last 10 games, the Swindon and Crawley fixtures are the two where we have really dipped underneath where we need to be in terms of our performance and that’s why we suffered the losses we did. But, apart from those two, we’ve been in every match and could easily have had more wins.

“I definitely think that the lads who came in in January have made a difference. Luckily they all seemed to settle quickly and they have all done well. With them and the change in system that the management have made, it feels good and everybody seems to have that understanding of what we are about and what we are trying to do.

“I do believe that these things have helped us. We are going out onto the pitch and doing better in terms of our individual roles and then when we’re coming together, collectively we are better, we are performing and that’s been reflected in results.”

Town’s clash with Wimbledon, who have been in free-fall of late having won just one of their previous 13 matches, kicks-off at 3pm at the EnviroVent Stadium on Friday afternoon.

The Dons triumphed 3-2 in dramatic fashion when the teams met earlier in the season, netting two late goals to snatch all three points after Harrogate had fought back to take a 2-1 lead in the second half.

"I fully expect another really difficult encounter on Friday,” Falkingham added.

“But what we have to do is try and make sure that we come out on the right side of it this time after the really tough loss we suffered at their place having got ourselves into a good position with only five or so minutes to go.

"We have to remember that feeling. The only extra motivation is not wanting to feel that again because of how much it hurt.”