Plymouth Argyle: Feb — March 2015

Greetings FMS readers from a rather chilly Toronto where it feels like -17C outside and not much better inside either. Though as Plymouth are deep in a desperate relegation battle the blood pressure is high enough to keep me warm as we battle on! So let’s take a look at the last two months….

February 2015

I’ll start off with the finances which continue to grow in positive territory and that’s a good thing!

We began the month with a mid-week fixture at home to Man City which was good for gate receipts, bad for league position. We were going to lose no matter who I sent out so I decided on fielding the back- up players and rest my starting eleven for important games coming up against West Brom and Stoke which we could win. We lost this one 3-0

In a hard fought game at The Hawthorns, Ryan Shotton headed us in front early in the second half from a corner kick and in a game of limited chances West Brom found the equalizer in the 70th minute. We picked up three yellow cards and were fortunate to finish the game with 11 men still on the field.

Back at Home Park we played Stoke at their own game as Chris McLaughlin turned the ball into the net off a long throw after just seven minutes to give us the lead. In similar fashion to our previous game this was yet another tough battle with so much at stake but an own goal early in the second half sealed Stoke’s fate and gave us three vital points. Unfortunately this game was marred by injuries and we finished the game with just 10 men.

Most critical of the injuries are the two defenders Richards and Bertucci.

It was off to Craven Cottage for our Fourth Round FA Cup replay and for the third game in a row we found ourselves in a battle, the prize home field advantage in the next round against Liverpool. The entire first half saw Bhasera play brilliantly at left back and Geynrikh tormenting the Fulham back four but the ball just wouldn’t go in the net for him. The second half played out much the same and as extra time was starting to enter my thoughts a blistering shot by Pelosi now playing on the right saw the ball bounce around in the box and was turned into the net by Yu Hai, 1-0! With time starting run out I switched to Contain/Defensive strategy but we killed the game off right at the end as substitute Rodriguez headed in our second goal from a free kick by Yu Hai. We had made it through to the 5th round!

Our next game was also in the FA Cup and the town had been gripped by cup fever after knocking out Fulham and with the prospect of playing Liverpool. We got off to a dream start as Genyrikh broke free down the right and unusually for him squared the ball into the box for midfielder Jaguare to smash into the net after 6 minutes. Some slick passing and terrfic movement off the ball created the Liverpool equalizer in the 23rd minute after which we beagn picking up yellow cards which would be 7 by the end of the game. Ten minues after the break we conceeded the go ahead goal from a corner ( yet again –despite training) after which Liverpool shut us down and our cup run was over.

 Back to the league and we were off to Southampton where we lost by a single goal sending us back to 16th place with just 2 points between us and the relagation zone. We finshed the game with just 10 men after losing our third left back in as many games and was the key factor in the defeat.

March 2015

Zeytulaev’s return from injury was marked with a goal after just 15 minutes as we took on Spurs at Home Park to the delight of the capacity crowd of 16,388. The fans joy did not last long as Spurs created an equalizer just on the half hour. We stood our ground though had the better possession and held the Londoners to a draw.

Next we went to Villa Park where Federico Rodrigues headed us into a 2-1 lead which we held all the way to until the end of the game when under no presureWilliam Ekong back pass went straight to Agbonlahor and it was 2-2. I let William know excactly what I thought of that in the dressing room.

With two weeks before our next competitive game I arrange a quick fitness friendly against Bath City which allowed some playing time for fringe players. A first half hat-trick by Romanian youngster Iosef Baesu was enough to dispatch a stubborn Bath team.

The final game of this short month saw the return of Liverpool and one Bobby Ponton, remember him from my first season? In one of football’s ironies it was Ponton who gave Liverpool the lead early on but we kept our heads, pushed forward and eventually got the equalizer as Rodriguez was brought down in the box and converted the penalty right on half time. That incident reduced Livepool to 10 men as they started the second half but they seem unfazed by the numerical disadvantage and quickly took a 2-1 lead. Centre back Jamie Richards headed in the equalizer not long after to put us back on level terms but The Reds weren’t finished and went back in front through Cavani after 64 minutes. But we weren’t done either. Ten minutes from time Zeytulaev’s run down the right culminated in across right at the byline which found substitue Genyrikh who controlled the ball on his chest and…..GET IN!!! Genyrikh had rescued us a vital point against the current champions.

Results Summary:

I’m disappointed that we lost to Southampton but overall things went according to plan — we didn’t lose too many — which I’m happy about.

League Table:

So, we are just a point above the relegation zone but realistically any team up to and including Blackburn could go down meaning there’s going to be one heck of a fight to stay up.

Fixtures:

We couldn’t have it any harder, three games against teams looking for European places and three more against relegation battlers.

March did end on a positive note as IIyas Zeytulaev won the player of the month award which is quite an achievement  for our little club.

One final piece of business saw the board annouce a link with League One side Brighton who will be a feeder club for us and we will be able to send young players to them as well. The board have always refused to invest in any youth development programs so this relationship should prove ideal for our younger players.

Well that’s about it for this update and given the cold weather outside I don’t think the Season Finale report will be too far off! Thanks for taking the time to read this and I look forward to your comments.