Plymouth Argyle: Season 4 — Anniversary Special

Hello friends and welcome back to this milestone post of my FMS. It’s now two years since Johnny invited me to this brilliant site as a guest writer featuring Swindon Town and since then it’s been a privilege to post stories here and more importantly develop  friendships not only with Johnny but with so many people from different parts of the world. Actually it’s somewhat like living in Toronto!

Although my successes have been nowhere near those of Johnny and latterly Darren and Ana, I guess my proudest achievement was getting Cambridge to the FA Cup Final in FM 2011 (where we lost to Man Utd) and into the Europa League as a Championship side.

Thank you for your support and kindness over the last two years and I look forward to bringing you more FMS even though they may not be successful teams! Speaking of which, back to my current story :)

October 2014

We started off the month with a crucial bottom of the table clash away to Stoke where the home side dominated the entire first period as we were pinned back in our own end for 45 minutes with Stoke scoring just on the stroke of half time. The second period was much the same as we went on to concede another goal late in the game before netting a consolation goal before the whistle went.

The international break allowed for a friendly game to be organized against local side Dawlish just so we could remember what it felt like to be in the oppositions half which seemed to have been in another lifetime. No surprises here unlike the Newport game and we ran out the easy victors.

Next up was a derby game of sorts at home to Southampton and we got off to a fantastic start as Yu Hai’s corner was met by the head of Rodriguez who powered the ball into the back of the net — 1-0!!! With the defensive line playing higher up and two DM’s in front of them we suddenly looked a more organized unit. We had lots of chances but couldn’t turn them into goals but neither could Southampton which meant we won our first ever EPL game….at last.

**Authors Note**

Off to Tim Hortons to treat myself to an extra-large coffee and maybe a donut too!

After the euphoria of actually winning a game was over we travelled to London into the intensity of White Hart Lane and to face the skill of Gareth Bale. I made only one change bringing in Wallace for Jaguare and it was the left footed Yu Hai and not Bale who was the star of the first half setting up two great chances for Rodriguez which were dramatically saved by the Spurs keeper. Into the second half which was all about Spurs and with 65 minutes gone we conceded a corner which was cleared by Ekong to Yu Hai who sprinted the down the field with the ball, squared it to Rodriguez and…goal!!! Unbelievable we were in the lead. Of course it wouldn’t last and Spurs created an equalizer six minutes from then end but it was a great away point.

November 2014

We started the month off at home to Aston Villa but we seemed to lack the midfield spirit of our previous outings. More noticeably was the absence of Yu Hai who was away on international duty with China and that affected our attacking moves. Still, Villa couldn’t break us down and the game ended in a scoreless draw.

After a series of somewhat better results we were handed a harsh dose of reality at Anfield. Following an excellent 45 minutes where we had Liverpool pinned back in their own half they suddenly came alive scoring 4 unanswered goals before Javi Lopez headed in a late consolation goal.

We fared no better in our mid-week encounter at Home Park against Newcastle where our fans had to endure another defeat though Alexander Geynrikh finally scored his first goal of the season.

Next up was away to 15th place Blackburn where we couldn’t improve at all on our last two performances and in fact played worse allowing Blackburn 59% of the possession resulting in another crushing defeat which now meant we had conceded 11 goals in three games.

November came to an end with a home game against Chelsea and after falling behind with just 2 minutes on the clock I was expecting another tidal wave of goals. However a brilliant run by Jaguare from the kick off ended with his shot hitting the bar and that was encouraging. Minutes later Lopez’s cross from the right flank deflected off a Chelsea defender and it was 1-1. Rodriguez would go on to hit the post before the half time whistle and we seemed to have the game under control. Just after the hour Home Park erupted as Yu Hai’s corner was headed back across the box by Coady and an unmarked Ekong headed the ball across the line to make it 2-1! Chelsea poured forward and once more we threw away a lead late in the game as Chelsea came up with a very dubious looking equalizer that appeared to be offside but nonetheless this draw was a terrific morale booster.

League Table:

No change here, just look due south :)

Injuries:

Dramatic improvement here since moving the players into the default training regimes from one that I had downloaded and installed at the start of the season.

Super Sevens:

Well I didn’t think I would have any player to post here but I did find one at that was Yu Hai

Fixtures:

Nine games to look forward to plus an FA Cup tie at some point and we start December with a difficult away game at Old Trafford…sucks!

Well that’s it for this post and not very exciting I know but thanks for taking the time to read it.