Plymouth Match Thread

[Dave Salmon]

4-3-3

Andresson
Cooney O'Connor, Delaney, Leigh
Phillips Diagouraga Jones
Ayunga Stockton Gnahoua

Subs: Letheren, Mensah, McLaughlin, Gibson, Harrison, McDonald, Price.

Shane Mc and Wootton not involved. Shane picked up a knock yesterday.

Aflie, Aaron and McPake still injured.

Beyond Radio (103.5FM) & iFollow from 2:45 with myself and Matt Smith.

UTS!

[Bristol Shrimp]

Commentary predictably absent again

[shrimp in cyprus]

Rather quiet on here!!!!!!!!!!!!
I normally rely on SV for updates and comments about how we are doing, but today - NOTHING???? Perhaps everyone is at the match. Seems a decent crowd (4272).
Anyway, it would appear to be a decent result against the league leaders.

[glagys]

Another dismal performance by the man in the middle
Thought we played well Adam was poor with his delivery and getting caught out of position in the first half causing cooney to deal with two running at him

[BerlinWaller]

Really enjoyed that, our 2nd half performance would have seen us win 4 or 5 nil in League 2. We pressed relentlessly and gave them nothing in the 2nd half and credit to them for their defensive performance. We chucked everything at them but they stood firm.

McDonald frustrates with his unwillingness to run in behind the full back, it is like a 14 year old FIFA streamer is controlling him. Drove me mad how he didnt run at the yellow carded full back. Ayunga was class, a real threat. Jones is very dynamic and deserves a run. Phillips is a conundrum that Robbo needs to solve. His set pieces were woeful but his creativity is head and shoulders better than anything else we have. AOC and Delaney were solid. Not convinced by Jokull. Toums is a pleasure to watch.

[Dublin Shrimp]

Totally agree with all that Berlin

[Crazeenick]

A highly entertaining and fascinating game. They were very quick and direct on the counter-attack, especially in the first half. We should have had a penalty in the first half.

The ref was pretty poor and made a lot of dodgy decisions.

Ayunga was my MOTM. Also thought Toums was immense - what a great run forward he made in the second half.

Arthur is a bit inconsistent - not one of his best games. Poor game for Adam Phillips, but he will come good again. As has been said, he often injects some much needed creativity.

I thought Jokull was good apart from his poor kicking.

Our defence was generally good - so it was overall a good performance to bounce back from our poor form in recent games. Play like that against Oxford and Cambridge and we should pick up some points.

COYS

[euston rd shrimp]

another entertaining game...result isnt what we would like,but a fair result..gave their best. its all you can ask.

[BerlinWaller]

I am very impressed by Robbo after that game. To get a performance like that against Top of the league after such a poor run shows he has the players playing for him and that he is a proper coach. A lot of work must have gone in to get that level of performance

[fulwoodshrimp]

A good performance against a very good side. Ayunga looked quality and I hope his injury is minor. Toumani was his usual amazing self. The referee was absolutely awful and I don't understand how such a mediocre official is promoted to referee in League 1.

[Freez]

Yep, agree with all of that too.
Wes could have had a go at Galloway after he got booked late on but cut inside or held it up, didn’t look like he thought he could beat him for pace, shame.
Some great performances in defence and Jones certainly showed his promise today in the absence of our firefly McLoughlin in the middle.
Toums was Viera of the Bay as per, Ayunga will not be with us long playing like that, both centre backs coped well with Hardie and Jephcott who are prolific.
Better side second half, showed them we could play a bit. They had a some good runners from midfield and got their wingbacks in too many times in the first half, but Robbo had a word with Adam and he covered better after that.
As has been said, Phillips didn’t have his best game, but he is a “high risk, high reward” player who will win us more games with his passing and general incisiveness. His set plays were poor by his standards. Cole was marshalled well by their centre backs, in the same way O’Connor and Delaney extinguished the threat from them.
At 1-1, with over an hour left, with both sides recent form, you wouldn’t have put any money on it staying that way.
However, that was as good a performance in its own way as Lincoln at home. They were handy, we matched them, onwards and upwards!!

[Freez]

Oh, and thought we got away with a handball off the line two seconds before they scored, would rather have 11 than 10!!

[Keith]

Rather quiet on here!!!!!!!!!!!!
I normally rely on SV for updates and comments about how we are doing, but today - NOTHING???? Perhaps everyone is at the match.

Yup, at the match so now updates from me [although it is nice to know someone appreciates them!] I'll be at the next three games too, so a bit quiet again.

Really enjoyed the game. You'd have thought we were top of the league and they were a mid-table side holding out for a draw, we really should have won. Stockton had a couple of half-chances and I thought he was going to put one of them away, but it wasn't to be. Diagouraga was my MotM but I wasn't unhappy when they announced Jones who I think will have done enough to make the shirt his to lose.

Anyone else think their goal was off-side? A few people around me were giving the linesman grief for not giving it, but to be honest, I didn't notice. I look forward to seeing a replay.

Defence looked much better and I thought Andresson was okay. That double save, was incredible. Okay it was flagged for off-side but neither he nor the attacker realised at the time.

Strange to feel like two points dropped when we played the top of the league.

[Freez]

From memory, I recall two of our lads on or near the line when the ball got prodded towards goal, close call, but you might be right!

[Westgate Wanderer]

Having watched the highlights their goal shouldn't have counted because their scorer stepped off the pitch then back on as the ball rolled towards the line. Although it does lookk like the previous shot at goal was stopped by the arm of our defender! Overall i thought we more than matched the league leaders yesterday, keep this up we should have no worries about relegation. COYS

[shrimp in cyprus]

Keith, I am delighted that you were able to attend yesterday's game and also the next three. I will miss the updates provided on SV but I will follow in other ways.

Sounds like a much improved performance yesterday, and also very interesting that not much has been said about the excellent attendance figure. Obviously we are getting use to these sort of numbers and even expecting them!!

We never used to get that many when we played Padiham or Burscough!!!!! (no disrespect to either club intended).

[redrobo]

Delighted with the performance of the team and in particular that of Ayunga and O'Connor.

Just a pity that we seem to have a problem against lesser teams than Plymouth but things will get better I'm sure given better communication and work rate.

Good to see the injured all in attendance and I'm looking forward to the Carlisle game when one of two will hope fully be making an appearance if only for 45 minutes.

Yet again the attendance figure stood up to those pasr despite recent results. Without doubt the reduced season ticket costs have proved a huge success and all credit to the BoD for taking such a bold step.

[Little Shrimp]

Really happy with that performance yesterday. Getting a point against the league leaders is always welcome, especially when they've not lost since the opening day, but to really earn that point instead of scraping it was very pleasing. We were a bit unlucky not to get all three with that second half performance.

I thought we were good in the first half overall, but Mayor caused all kinds of trouble slipping into that half-space between O'Connor and Cooney. It's always a difficult area to marshal because if O'Connor steps out, then that leaves a gap in the centre of defence, and if Cooney tucks in then that leaves their wing back with loads of space to attack out wide. Phillips needed to track more but didn't really manage to, which I can understand as he was playing as the more advanced midfielder and was working hard otherwise.

I felt that Robbo got Jones (who was excellent) to shift a bit deeper in the second half into more of a double pivot alongside Toums, giving us a spare midfielder in front of the defence to go and track the runs from Mayor. It also meant Phillips was more of a No10, and he pressed their deepest midfielder very well at times. That second half performance was superb. Just hemmed Plymouth into their own half for long periods with out organisation and good pressing.

I'd say the only thing lacking from that performance was just a bit of quality up front. Out of our four main attacking players, three (Stockton, Phillips and Gnahoua) weren't quite at it on the ball. Encouraging though to see how we still managed to play well, despite our talisman striker not having a great game.

Defence was excellent, O'Connor the stand-out but I think Delaney also deserves a shoutout. I've not been convinced at all by him, but he really stepped up yesterday. Really happy to see Jones take his chance - he's had to be very patient for it and I'd expect he has earned himself another start. Toums was Toums - amazing - and Ayunga was a real threat all game. Great to have him back fit.

[CityShrimp]

A point was always gonna be a decent result and it was important to just get something to stop the rot.

I thought Greg Leigh was impressive and in with a shout of MotM. Toums was great but you just expect that of him now. Ayunga looked good on the right - we need to see more of him there.

Not sure McDonald deserved any criticism - people seemed frustrated when he brought the ball forward and wouldn’t commit to taking his man on but he had literally nobody ahead or in support.

Phillips was poor but just a bad day at the office. He’ll probably score next week.

A good point and one we can build on.

[redrobo]

Delighted with the performance of the team and in particular that of Ayunga and O'Connor.

Just a pity that we seem to have a problem against lesser teams than Plymouth but things will get better I'm sure given better communication and work rate.

Good to see the injured all in attendance and I'm looking forward to the Carlisle game when one of two will hope fully be making an appearance if only for 45 minutes.

Yet again the attendance figure stood up to those pasr despite recent results. Without doubt the reduced season ticket costs have proved a huge success and all credit to the BoD for taking such a bold step.

The attendance on Saturday was just over 4200 with circa 680 from Plymouth which gives a home gate of circa 3500......excellent considering the recent results and proves once again the wisdom of reducing the cost of season tickets. 1000 paying fans would exceed some of the figures for paying home fans last season. Superb...

[Redalert1970]

The crowd against Cambridge will be the test as can’t see them bringing any more than 100

Probably drop down to 3000 mark which will still be ok

[Gone_Shrimping]

The crowd against Cambridge will be the test as can’t see them bringing any more than 100

Probably drop down to 3000 mark which will still be ok

The Cambridge game is one we really need to win. Let's hope there is no repeat of last seasons' game.

I Think we can top 3,000 for that game.