"There’s no discouragement Shall make him once relent His first avow’d intent To be a Pilgrim"
(Bunyan)
We travel to Devon’s furthest reaches to face one of the promotion favourites - Argyle had a blistering start to the season and although the wheels haven’t exactly fallen off, it has been shown that they are vulnerable. No doubt Darryl Clarke will have done his homework so that even without the signing of a Big Top Tent striker we will be endeavouring to improve on our current scoring average of half-a-goal per game. There don’t appear to be any historical connections between the two clubs on the managerial side, but 2 ex-Saddlers have been voted “Player of the season” whilst at Home Park … Steve Cherry(1988) and Reuben Reid(2014), and there is a “live” playing connection of course, in the form of Joe Edwards. Argyle’s League 2 form thus far:-
Aug 3 Crewe Alexandra (A) Won 0-3
Aug 10 Colchester United (H) Won 1-0
Aug 17 Newport County (A) Lost 1-0
Aug 20 Salford City (H) Drew 2-2
It hasn’t been revealed how near to full fitness Danny Guthrie, Rory Holden and KoryRoberts are - Darrell Clarke keeps his cards close enough to his chest to give the impression that there’s a mean poker player beneath that stubble. But the likes of JamesHardy and Caolan Lavery have shown that they are quite capable of more than the cameo substitute role - indeed it was Lavery who had our solitary shot on target against Newport County (according to the PA report). In the absence of a Big Top Marque Marquee striker it’s a comfort to know that the squad does have a reliable depth.
Prediction? A draw from this one would be very acceptable - say 1-1 with Elijah Adebayo opening his Walsall account?
2-0 defeat. Don’t have that great a record there and they have some very good players for this level, Danny Mayor one to look out for. Livewire winger, sort that’s missing from the Walsall 11. Joe Edwards has started all their games this season aswell.
Anyway a match where I would be more than happy with a point compared to last few weeks where it hasn’t felt enough.
Pity its not a cup-tie because that’s the only way we ever seem to win at their place in my experience. 35 years since the last league win?? I remember that game for one of those wierd things that sticks in the mind for no particular reason. The usually unflappable Stan Blandford waving his arms around and shouting “what are you doing!” in the last minute when one of our players launched an audacious cross into the box when we were winning two one with the seconds ticking away. The ball sailed over their keeper for the third goal with Stan holding his hands over his face. Think it was Gary Childs who scored but am not sure.
0-0 for me again, someone put on the Newport result thread who saw that 0-0 coming, well i did, again i think we are hard to score against but we also can’t score, as i have said i don’t think there is another team that are better than us in this league, if we could just click
Yeah I was saying it in the pub too before the game that I can see a nil nil with us cancelling each other out. We’re going to have loads of games like that. A lot of patience needed!
No, but talking to Plymouth when the club had given him permission to cost Colin Lee his job!
And let us not forget they willingly hooked up with that fit and proper person Peter Ridsdale to stiff all their creditors just 8 years ago. Just having him associated with your club should lead to automatic expulsion from the league.
Anyway, about time we got a result down there so a narrow 1-0 win - magnificent bundle in by o.g. (hasn’t been on the score sheet yet but came close against Crewe and Crawley so think he will break his duck).
At least it’s a bank holiday weekend and not New Year’s Day or a Tuesday night like the last 2 visits.
I am still convinced we had more than enough to stay up that season if Lee hadn’t been sacked, followed by what must rank as one of Jeff’s worst decisions in making Merson manager which caused Mike Lloyd to resign. Some great players like samways, Harper and Gary o Neil.
Normally I’d say draw but we are straying dangerously close to “could do with a win” territory. If we are not allowed to judge Clarke for 10 games well this is game 6 so it’s time to start showing something else. I hope they do.
Of the games I’ve seen down here I can only remember 2-1 defeats and with our lack of goal scorers I can’t see any better than a similar result.
But I am looking forward to a good day out
