Best wishes to all associated with Plymouth Argyle football club, players, management and supporters for tomorrow. I'll be there in spirit. COYG
I confess to being more than a little excited. Looks like there are only about 50 tickets left for the home areas- lets hope it is s cracking atmosphere with a good result.
With you there lyndhurst although on the down side the timing of this is absolutely crap for a lot of people who would have liked to have been there. The FA want kicking up the jacksy for letting the TV people dictate to the detriment of the people who support this league week in week out. Even more reason to hate Sky as if I needed any. It's going to seem a very long Saturday today.
Oh well cracking atmosphere but not the greatest result-all to play for, still fancy us for the final....
sorry lads and Ladies Pressed on the wrong button. Wow got a glimpse at 2'0 down but don't be disencouraged , still in with a shout. Cheers till next game!
To be brutally frank lyndhurst I have no idea how we only lost that by one. We were dead and buried and I was waiting for the forth one to go in. They are a decent side and it is obviously no fluke they are where they are league wise. Too much time wasting for me and it reminded me a bit of Stevenage. But, would we have done it in their shoes? Guess that's a yes again if honest. Sheridan should have had the team that ended out from the start. Reid is finished this season. Not his fault and he has done well but it is obvious his season is done. The team that finished was more or less the one that played at Shrewsbury and what a difference it made when he put it back together. He must start with that 11 in leg 2. The Ref was bleddy awful yet again and I'm fed up with having to say that this season. The standard is terrible. Their goal looked all the way a handball and I am told Sky confirmed it was. Bloody well taken though. One of their players took an almighty swing at one of ours after a foul, ours got booked and theirs ignored with not even a word. Perhaps we both should have been down to 10. Having said all that I think the final result was the right way around. I think they will be nervous now for the home leg given their home form. Still in there but I'm not sure how. One hell of a lot of credit to the green army tonight. The team could not fault their backing and the atmosphere at 3 - 0 down was unbelievable when you would have expected tears. Must have looked and sounded impressive on the box.
yes, agree with all yr comments sensible. Just watched the match back on Sky (fast forward for lots of it) but their second was a nailed on handball and the third was simply dreadful defending. O Conner was lucky to stay on the pitch and (arguably) so was Lewis Allassandra- but you are right, how their player wasn't at least booked for the O conner incident beggars belief. Quite odd feeling quite elated after a loss but am sure Wycombe are definitely beatable at their place on Thursday, especially with their keeper -and after all we've done it once this season. I would have dropped R Reid weeks ago; Zak Ansah must start along with Banton. The ref was crap (no surprise) but the fans from both sides were outstanding-and we even got praise on Sky!! Don't worry, about a thing, because every little thing, is going to be all right.
Very Entertaining match and a credit to League 2.. Great atmosphere, Even tho the result was not our's. Still feel confident w will do it at their place.. I agree with the line up, we should have started with the one that was at Shrewsbury last week.. we had most possession and never had a shot on target for 84 minutes!!
I'm not sure if it was the substitutes that turned the tide or the fans to be honest: once That Song started with 10 to go, the atmosphere changed entirely, as though the Devonport End had forgiven the 3-0 scoreline. Emotional stuff. I watched the Sky coverage as soon as I got home: a definite handball of which the ref had a good view. 999 in 1,000 would have disallowed the goal and perhaps changed the course of the game. We got the other blind one. Also, Sky seemed to have sound trouble, all you could hear (and see) was the Wycombe fans. I think they had microhone trouble, there was a geek fiddling with the pitchside mics in the first half. I don't know what side he'll pick on Thursday but the Wycombe right back won't want to see Banton on the team sheet for sure. Since we have nothing to lose, perhaps it should be 4:4:2 as we finished last night with Brunt and Ansah up front and Alessandra and Banton out wide......
How did we get to the play-offs ?.....surely because of the strength of our defence over the full season......so it is rather ironical that when we need them most they start to falter. Failing to clear a set ball situation for the first leads to the usual ex-player scoring against us.....you could guarantee it couldn't you. The second one was not anyones direct fault... but the referees.....the ball knocked down via the arm for the Wycombe player to latch on to and score. Having watched it a few times ...it was obviously seen by most of Home Park and before the shot you could hear the shout of hand ball go up....but the referee and his assistance saw nothing......just a question mark against the defence not playing to the whistle... and not continuing until the referee blew or in this case did not blow. The third was a typical school boy error of not being prepared for a free kick......what where they doing....some Argyle players where walking away not watching the situation before them.....ok give the Wycombe player due credit....he saw the opportunity and played the ball quickly into the path of the scorer who finished well. How can one of the best defences in Div2 turn off at such an important moment defies belief. Unfortunate for us that the two players we most depend on have dried up in the goal scoring department.....Reuben Reid's season looks over......and he should be used on Thursday from the bench......Ansah and Banton should start.....they seem to be up for it at present and can give Wycombe's defence the run around with their speed. Those two late goals left Argyle in the ascendancy....filled with new hope.....and Wycombe just feeling disappointed at what they had let slip. I do find it strange that many people saw the hand ball situation yet three officials on the pitch saw nothing.....the difference was that Wycombe played on and we didn't. Lets hope that the right Argyle turn up on Thursday and repeat the 2-0 league result we achieved there during the season......I'll keep my fingers crossed.
In fairness Plym, the handball wasn't deliberate in the way it had to be 5 or 10 years ago for the whistle to be blown. However, the arm was away from his body and controlled the ball so that the goal became possible. We can argue for days about whether it OUGHT to be given as handball but the fact of the matter is that 999 out of 1,000 referees WOULD blow up for it if it was an attacker that touched it precisely because they are scared rotten of allowing a dubious goal. Equally, 999 out of 1,000 probably WOULDN'T have given a penalty had it been a defender who "handled" for the same reason! The ref saw it, he must have done, although the lino couldn't be sure from where he was. I got the impression the ref was determined not to be swayed by a big enthusiastic crowd and in trying to demonstrate his "impartiality", stepped well over the line to the point of favouring Wycombe, from the handball to failing to book one of theirs for an-over-the-top tackle in the 1st five minutes to tolerating Wycombe's catalogue of made-up near fatal injuries. In other words, he failed to officiate properly and was, as Sensible put it "crap". Total crap actually. Oh, PS, I don't agree that Argyle "switched off" for the 2nd goal. Once the ball had come off the hand, the ball was in the net too quickly to do much about it. You can ask why the scorer wasn't marked better in the first place mind you....
It did look more ....ball to arm than arm to ball.......the ball certainly couldn't have fallen more perfectly to the scorer if it had been placed there on purpose. Did the referee see what had happened and decided that because it didn't look intentional that he would allow it ? Surely still handball even if not intended.....free kick to Argyle.....how would the game have progressed with it being only 1-0 instead of 2-0.....we will never know. Do we have a different Referee on Thursday or do we have this one again....who owes us....interesting.
Even if you are the most partisan fan in the universe plym and absolutely swear on everyone's death that it was ball to hand you cannot defend the advantage it created. It was handball and I believe the Ref saw it clearly. He got the decision completely wrong and for a person of his suposed experience he shouldn't have. That one decision could cost a team thousands for an appearance at Wembley and a promotion and bigger revenue next season. But, there is no recourse in this. Players get banned retrospectively but Refs get nothing. I stand by my opinion that Wycombe deserved to win the match and have no complaints about them having a one goal lead going into the second match. There are two Plymouth's Natalie and it very much depends which one turns up. Been telling everyone for weeks and weeks now that R Reid should have ended his season. Now you've gotta believe me.
Well I don't subscribe to Sky so we watched at a relatives house and were all pretty speechless and sobbing in our beer by the time we were 3 down, however come the end the team salvaged some pride and have given us all a glimmer of hope. On the whole I was disappointed with our performance and Reuben Reid looks like he's been on a pasty diet! We must improve in the second leg but we live in hope. COYG
Where have you been Essex? Reid always looks like that but it's his natural size and what makes him hard to handle. It's not his appearance that is the problem it's the fact he cannot train all week because of his injury and that he soon runs out of energy in a match at the end of it. The Manager playing him is the problem even if he is the top scorer. He should have left him out weeks or even months ago to get over his injury and not drugged him up to get another game out of him. Had he done so we would have probably had a fit Reid with us now causing a lot more problems than he is. Don't let size fool you and if you need a comparison who is twice the size then look no further than Akenfenwa. You need a ring road and taxi to get round him but he doesn't half score a lot. I cannot understand Sheridan sometimes. He put a team out to play the second in the league away and they produced a performance to play them off the park. He then reverts to what isn't working for the most important match forgetting what just happened. When he rediscovered the secret we score 2 goals and get back in a game. Am I being stupid here or is it really rocket science and I don't understand any of it. (You don't need to answer the stupid question is was rhetorical). He has to leave Reid out, and Jones as well because I don't think he brings anything to the party either, and start with the team he ended with last night.
I'd guess without pictures of Reid then as rest of above still stands. He's always a bit on the round side.
