Argyle deservedly came away with the spoils from a highly entertaining match which any neutral must have enjoyed. Unfortunately, not being a neutral, there were plenty of squeaky bum moments as the greens made it harder than it should have been. Argyle started with Wylde and Tanner and Brunt dropping to the bench. New boy Forster also on the bench and although he didn't get on the pitch he looks the part, and appears to be physically bigger than Brunt.... For once Argyle started with a high tempo and much of the first half was filled with some excellent attacking football played at pace. Mchugh settled some early nerves with a scrappy goal on 3 mins before some poor defending allowed Stevenage to level after 6 mins at 1-1.. In fairness to Argyle they kept going and it was no surprise when Wylde put us ahead following some outstanding play from Jervis on the right wing. The opposition would have been disappointed to allow Wylde to score with a header at the far post- but it was a game littered with poor defending. Stevenage played okay, mainly relying on some electric pace up front, but following a similar effort by Reid being well saved by the keeper, Tanner took Argyle into the break at 3-1 after some slick interpassing - when the ball dropped to him, he curled it perfectly into the top corner and past the flailing goalie. Not sure what happened at half time, did they all have an extra pasty?- no idea but they started very sluggishly against a pepped up opposition -49 mins and some dreadful defending and indecisive keeping by Luke made it 3-2; game on and probably a case of 'next goal wins'. Eventually though Argyle got back into the pace of the match and provided an ever present threat without adding to the tally of goals. Stevenage continued to threaten on the counter. Brunt replaced Reid, Threckland replaced Tanner, Brunt missed a sitter with his first touch(though he might have been offside) Jervis fired high and wide when he really should have played Wylde in. 4 mins extra time was well managed and we ended up relieved, exhausted and with the points. A couple of points if I may.... Stevenage are not a bad team-cant defend but should score goals on the counter. The Ref...let a lot of things go on both sides which I thought was good. Maybe made one big mistake when Jervis was through, but I thought he was the best ref at HP this season and controlled the game well when he needed to. Good to see lots of DJM teams and staff making use of the 2000 free tickets made available to them. Wylde was simply outstanding- the best he has played for Argyle chased everything and displayed quite a bit of skill-my MOTM with a shoutout for McHugh and Jervis; Reuben looking sharper but still needs a couple of matches. Really enjoyed the match, despite the obvious defensive frailties -still top, 19 to go . Off to Bristol next week so you will be getting a late-ish match report!
Thanks for that Lindy.......only the second league match where we have scored more than two......and with us in a winning position and Northampton 1-0 down... things looked pretty good for us to break free and possibly improve our goal count.....but Northampton playing poorly came through 2-1....disappointing in the end but that's how it goes. We do threaten at times to run amoke and score a fistful....but it never happens....so another game that we have won by the odd goal....so frustrating......our defence have been less than sound recently...and there is always the chance that a winning situation can turn into a draw. Bristol Rovers coming up next week....that will be an important one......they got a last minute penalty in September when Mrs Plym and I came down ....to snatch a draw .....when we thought we had won it with a late goal. Possibilty that Graham Carey might take some part next week...even if it is only on the bench. Portsmouth and Oxford have games in hand....but being involved in the Cup as well might be a good thing to undermine their promotion push.....points in the bag is worth more than games in hand everytime.
I thought Brunt should have started. It was totally out of order that he was dropped for Reid and to be honest I didn't think Reid was good enough today to push Brunt onto the Sub bench. What has he done to warrant being dropped by Adams? Argyle really started on the front foot today and then somehow contrived to let Stevenage back into the game. At 1 - 0 you sort of sensed it was going to be Argyle's day with ease. Suddenly it was 1 - 1 with another diabolical bit of defending. I don't think the McHugh goal was scrappy at all. He headed it in from a corner when Stevenage failed to defend properly. The second goal was well worked and you would not have expected it to be Wylde on the end of a cross. The third goal was well taken and Argyle deserved to be 3 - 1 up at the interval. I and my party were saying as one at halftime that this was probably going to be one of those days when Argyle doubled up on their tally and it was going to be easy. Yeh right. Since when did Argyle ever do anything the easy way. The last thing you would want is for Stevenage to score early on in the second at that of course is what Argyle allowed. The crowd turned a bit then and started to panic around me. Rightly so because it looked like they were going to throw it away.....AGAIN. As it was they came back into it late on and didn't really hang on for the result. It should have never been that close though. Special mention for the Ref and the lino on the lyndhurst side. The lino missed nothing all match and actually did the job of a lino and held his flag up when he should have. 10 out of 10 for him. The Ref had a really good game. He let the game go for both sides and wasn't fussy in any way. He got most decisions spot on ably assisted by his other two. He didn't miss anything with Jervis as far as I could see so not sure what lyndhurst means by that. Jervis threw himself down on one occasion without being touched and I think that's the one time he meant. I think if we had a shout for a pen today he would have given it. Can we have the team of officials every week please.
I thought Jervis was fouled when he was through near the end (after running half the length of the pitch) he did go down fairly easily and then tried to claim he was was fouled again inside the area. It is all about viewing angles though -thought their defender just clipped him, but it certainly wasn't nailed on, especially given the way he had reffed the rest of the match. No complaints-as you said the ref and lino were both very good.
Oh and having just watched the SKY highlights I will agree that McHugh's goal wasn't scrappy- funny how things looks different in real time!
As you know I sit right opposite the 18 yard box lyndhurst. It was a dive by Jervis all day long. In my opinion of course..... I thought the Ref was good with the divers today. He just seemed to laugh at them and ignore it completely for both sides. Excellent. He did call one foul back after McHugh was taken out and booked the player involved. He should have let Argyle carry on as they were well on the attack and in a good position. He could have booked the player after but if that is all he got wrong, and I can't think of anything else off hand then he did well. I have my new glasses so am confident I now see everything. Well compared to before I do anyway.
Thanks for the reports. A bit too entertaining for comfort. A nice string of 1-0 wins is what we need.... The nil part is what we're lacking presently.
