Plymouth Argyle: Losing the wind in our sails…

Morning (at least for me) FM friends and welcome back to the latest update in my Plymouth Argyle story. Well I forgot to set my clock back one hour last night which turned out to be a bonus as I could play more Football Manager when I woke up. Nice!!

So with coffee close by me lets see what’s been happening down in Devon….

We started October with a smashing 5-2 win away to Barnet which saw Asante get a brace though the centerpiece was a curling effort from 20 yards out by Simon Walton. After enduring a 12 day break due to international fixtures it was inevitably a sluggish performance at Home Park in a 2-1 victory over Bristol Rovers but I was happy with the three points. A long trip away to last place Morecambe saw my youngest first eleven to date take the field, most of them under 20 and they put in a delightful performance with loan signings Mitrovic and Witham getting the goals.

**Click the camera to watch Walton’s goal**

The second half of the month saw Marko Mitrovic slam in an 86th minute winner against Cheltenham from just inside the box to delight the home fans to keep our unbeaten run going. Next up was our top of the table clash against Rotherham. In a gruelling Tuesday night encounter the game was decided by just a single goal from the penalty spot with Simon Walton neatly placing the ball past the Rotherham keeper. That win opened up a four point gap as we stayed at the top of the table. I had to make some changes following that game as we travelled to Wimbledon for the last match of the month. Unfortunately they didn’t pay off and we lost by two goals to one with substitute Asante snatching a late consolation goal.

 Right winger Luke Daley sprained his ankle against Wimbledon and will be out for seven weeks.

That defeat didn’t hurt us though in terms of league position and we remained in first place going into November.

As the month closed out two first team members signed professional contracts. Right back Colin Watson and Striker Matt Lecointe. Here are their profiles.

It required a stern half time talk to rescue a point at home to Gillingham as we began our November fixtures. After giving up an easy goal in the 35th minute it was Asante who found us the equalizer just before the hour mark being first to arrive in the box to meet a low cross from the left flank by Jon Meades. Overall it was a pretty horrible team performance.

Following the international break our next game was also at Home Park and was equally as bad as the previous match, if not worse as we experienced our first home defeat of the season in a 1-0 loss to Hereford and not a single shot on target!

Our first round FA Cup tie saw us travel to Huddersfield where the home side took the lead after 18 minutes. To make matters worse we lost Asante through an injury which depleted our firepower up front. A second goal ended our cup hopes but we did stage a late rally with a goal by Matt Lecointe and in the dying minutes Marques hit the bar (naturally) and Durrell Berry missed an open goal.

We ended the month with another disappointing display away to Accrington where once more we came from behind to snatch a draw 14 minutes from time through a header by Curtis Nelson.

So after that terrible run of form we surrendered top spot to title challengers Rotherham giving up a four point lead to now trailing by three points.

Asante is still by far my best player and leads the Super Sevens table once again though I’m happy that I didn’t sell Simon Walton as he’s chipped in with six goals so far. I would however like to see another striker in this group!

Here are the fixtures for the next couple of months with some key games coming up against Crawley and Oxford.

Thanks for taking the time to read this and see you soon.