One Game at a Time:
Strawberry Town (A) April 18th 2023
Things we have learned this week.
No matter how much Argyle fans bang on about how far they travel each season, one thing you can always rely on is Network Rail to mess up the shortest journey of the season.
Football fans make the absolute worst pundits.
The Exe Valley grape harvest this season is going to be a bad year for wines, unless you like them sour and bitter, but an absolute belter for Red Whines.
After the hefty dose of reality handed out by Lincoln the previous weekend, not even the emergence of a less gloomy injury forecast from the newly nominated Manager of the Season candidate Schuey could inject too much renewed optimism into the fatalistic Green Army. A short trip up the A38 for what I saw described on one post on Exeweb as the El Pastyco, was without doubt the most important individual game of the season. A defeat, as well as ceding temporarily bragging rights to the County colours, would tighten the race substantially. A City side with nothing to play for but pride, and who, if they did manage to overcome Argyle, would doubtless then tamely surrender the points to our closest rivals to compound the misery, would be the worst possible way to follow up an unexpected home defeat.
Early news was that Ennis and Randell were fit to return, as was the slightly damaged Galloway with a fetching new plaster cast to protect his wrist. No sign of the resurrected over Easter Mumba however, but a return to the fray for the combative Earley. Hardie resumed bench duties as Cosgrove returned for what was to clearly be a no-nonsense approach for the match.
The game itself was, shall we be honest, no classico. Derbies rarely are and derbies with something significant riding on them even less so. Add in the early kick off, which meant that we would be tuning in to Stelling et al either deep in despair or riding high, and the pressure was suitably supercharged for all concerned.
A scoreless half-time suited the away contingent, and vindicated skipper Joe 90âs decision to ensure that the second half was not spent defending the so-called Big Bank. City were having greater possession and doing relatively little with it. Then after seventy minutes a moment of high danger for Argyle. We won another corner. True to form we butchered it, but in this case only in the sense of Matt Butcher finding the feet of Ennis who laid the ball back into Butchers path. Having scored one goal at Stanley via an outrageous deflection, Matt aimed at the only place he could be sure of scoring. Will Aimsonâs knee.
You could tell the local supporters were impressed by his shot by the very large number in the Big Bank who chose to set aside partisanship and leap about wildly in celebration. Nothing to see here, EFL ticket police!
I was particularly impressed by the kind and generous actions of the returning Ennis who went across to explain the intricacies of the corner routine to a clearly baffled section of the Exeter crowd. The bafflement continued after the game, when a mystified Gary Caldwell struggled to come to terms with the concept of statistics when explaining how dominant his side had been as evidenced by their greater number of fouls and lower numbers of shots and corners. He might have had a point on the corners to be fair.
Job done and duly celebrated by a team as passionate as the vocal support they had received. The win guaranteed the Pilgrims a place in the end of season play-off lottery as a minimum, and you could hear the forlorn deep sighs of the frustrated fans forums in Yorkshire and Suffolk as once again Relentless Argyle headed back to the top of the table.
In the three oâclockers, the three teams in pursuit set about their games with gusto. Barnsley rapidly took control of the game at the New Lawn, heartlessly relegating the meat free option back to the League Two menu. Charlton, so often in recent seasons a stumbling block for Argyle, and off the back of a miraculous two injury time goals at home in a four all draw with Ipswich, the donors of the two points that Town need to overtake our total, simply capitulated.
Town and their carefully selected match official romped home against the Addicks, who ended up with their ex-Ipswich striker Bonne both withdrawn and then reprimanded for liking some Ipswich supporting social media posts. Whilst the Ipswich born striker might have been unwise to do so, Charlton were only two down when he was withdrawn. The six nil win means Town now have a substantial advantage in the goal difference stakes of plus fifty-three, which is worth a point in the event they eventually catch Argyles total.
If Town finished Grand National Day like Red Rum, then no doubts over who is playing Crisp. The Wendies, having restored keeper Dawson after the failed experiment propping Stockdale in the goal and hoping the resultant lack of space would cramp the opposition forwards, and with Paterson back in the side after injury, set about collapsing to Burton Albion.
Not even the traditional late Smith penalty was enough to erode the three-one half time Albion lead. Even worse the opener was scored by John Brayford, the man whose outstretched arm denied Barnsley a certain goal over Easter and who by rights should have been in the stands watching whilst he served a suspension.
Darren Moores men plunged to third from top and have only four fixtures remaining. The bloodletting on Owlstalk was ferocious if predictable. Seven games after being undefeated in twenty-three and almost guaranteed the title (apparently) Moore has gone from Messiah to Anti-Christ in the calm rational way only football fans know how to do.
Come the final scores and Argyle retained top spot, once again rebounding after a defeat to gain points, a point ahead of Ipswich and two ahead of Wednesday. Barnsley now could catch Wednesday by winning their game in hand which rather helpfully is against Ipswich Town. Wednesday have an away trip to Bristol, the result of which will tell them if they need to get Stannah in to fit goalmouth stair lifts for Stockdale, or stick with Dawson and buy him a panic alarm to help him signal to his defence.
With Wednesdayâs Chairman being rumoured to be flying into the country for an âunexpected visitâ and criticism of the managers performance being amplified by media commentators as respected as Brian Laws and Dave Prutton, Moore could yet be the first person to be fired before he is able to collect his Manager of the Season trophy, where he has been nominated alongside our own Schuey and Kid McKenna. Only kidding Darren. Youâre not going to win it.
In the aftermath of the weekend results Port Vale, heading to Portman Road on Tuesday, fired Darrell Clarke after a run of two wins in eighteen. They will line up against the rampant Suffolk side with no fewer than four players suspended through four red cards (or as Charlton fans call it it, Ryan Inniss) hoping no doubt for a new coach bounce.
Argyle on the same night will be travelling to take on the seemingly easily bruised Strawberry Town, sitting in tenth place but through injuries and suspensions, gradually running out of players. In their one all draw at home to Portsmouth, the ex-Argyle loanee Tom Flanaghan returned from suspension only to receive his marching orders once again. This ensured he misses our match and will also have shot to the top of Accringtonâs shopping list for the summer.
Town boss Steve Cotterill was downbeat in assessing the clubâs position, as they have a substitutes creche, that until Saturday, when he was forced to throw on a ninetieth minute substitute, housed five youth team players and another ex-Argyle loanee (albeit one we broke) Harry Burgoyne, the ex Wolves keeper (and possibly centre half if needs be) which had a grand total of zero played outfield minutes. On the plus side he introduced a somewhat controversial new incentive scheme for his strikers which seemed to involve the virtue of his daughters. HMRC are believed to be investigating.
Town, who battled hard at Home Park before succumbing to a late Whittaker goal, will no doubt employ all their dark arts, something Pompey midfielder Marlon Pack bemoaned after Saturday.
These antics, which have also achieved the not too difficult feat of getting under Joey Bartons skin, recently resulted in a Rovers response to the Shrewsbury Tik Tok Eminem style video, which is to be found here should you want to underscore why Why Come v Shrewsbury might well be the least attended fixture of next season in League One.
https://www.tiktok.com/@brfc_offici...hrewsbury town bristol rovers&t=1681744948597
Joey himself will be busy on Tuesday, as his Gasheads entertain the wobbling Owls, whilst Barnsley take the short trip to home draw specialists LincolnâŚ.
As for Argyle, we will be hoping for a rerun of last seasonâs early trip to the Montgomery Waters, and the comfortable three nil win. Sam Cosgrove will be hoping that unlike that match, he puts his boots on the right feet, and shows the Shrews what they could have had. After that it will be a return to home comforts for a season defining week of games at Fortress Home Park, whilst Ipswich take on trips to Peterborough, Barnsley and finally Fleetwood.
It is the position we all hoped for but few of us thought was possible. We have undoubtedly over-achieved but nothing is decided yet. The mantra, one game at a time is never more apt.
The great tennis player Arthur Ashe said sagely,â Start where you are. Use what you have. Do what you can.â
There are still those who might think that what the club, our owners, our players and our backroom staff are trying to build is impossible. To those who think like that, I refer them to Muhammad Ali.
âImpossible is just a word thrown around by small men who find it easier to live in the world theyâve been given than to explore the power they have to change it. Impossible is not a fact. Itâs an opinion. Impossible is potential. Impossible is temporary. Impossible is nothing.â
COYG!!!!
Strawberry Town (A) April 18th 2023
Things we have learned this week.
No matter how much Argyle fans bang on about how far they travel each season, one thing you can always rely on is Network Rail to mess up the shortest journey of the season.
Football fans make the absolute worst pundits.
The Exe Valley grape harvest this season is going to be a bad year for wines, unless you like them sour and bitter, but an absolute belter for Red Whines.
After the hefty dose of reality handed out by Lincoln the previous weekend, not even the emergence of a less gloomy injury forecast from the newly nominated Manager of the Season candidate Schuey could inject too much renewed optimism into the fatalistic Green Army. A short trip up the A38 for what I saw described on one post on Exeweb as the El Pastyco, was without doubt the most important individual game of the season. A defeat, as well as ceding temporarily bragging rights to the County colours, would tighten the race substantially. A City side with nothing to play for but pride, and who, if they did manage to overcome Argyle, would doubtless then tamely surrender the points to our closest rivals to compound the misery, would be the worst possible way to follow up an unexpected home defeat.
Early news was that Ennis and Randell were fit to return, as was the slightly damaged Galloway with a fetching new plaster cast to protect his wrist. No sign of the resurrected over Easter Mumba however, but a return to the fray for the combative Earley. Hardie resumed bench duties as Cosgrove returned for what was to clearly be a no-nonsense approach for the match.
The game itself was, shall we be honest, no classico. Derbies rarely are and derbies with something significant riding on them even less so. Add in the early kick off, which meant that we would be tuning in to Stelling et al either deep in despair or riding high, and the pressure was suitably supercharged for all concerned.
A scoreless half-time suited the away contingent, and vindicated skipper Joe 90âs decision to ensure that the second half was not spent defending the so-called Big Bank. City were having greater possession and doing relatively little with it. Then after seventy minutes a moment of high danger for Argyle. We won another corner. True to form we butchered it, but in this case only in the sense of Matt Butcher finding the feet of Ennis who laid the ball back into Butchers path. Having scored one goal at Stanley via an outrageous deflection, Matt aimed at the only place he could be sure of scoring. Will Aimsonâs knee.
You could tell the local supporters were impressed by his shot by the very large number in the Big Bank who chose to set aside partisanship and leap about wildly in celebration. Nothing to see here, EFL ticket police!
I was particularly impressed by the kind and generous actions of the returning Ennis who went across to explain the intricacies of the corner routine to a clearly baffled section of the Exeter crowd. The bafflement continued after the game, when a mystified Gary Caldwell struggled to come to terms with the concept of statistics when explaining how dominant his side had been as evidenced by their greater number of fouls and lower numbers of shots and corners. He might have had a point on the corners to be fair.
Job done and duly celebrated by a team as passionate as the vocal support they had received. The win guaranteed the Pilgrims a place in the end of season play-off lottery as a minimum, and you could hear the forlorn deep sighs of the frustrated fans forums in Yorkshire and Suffolk as once again Relentless Argyle headed back to the top of the table.
In the three oâclockers, the three teams in pursuit set about their games with gusto. Barnsley rapidly took control of the game at the New Lawn, heartlessly relegating the meat free option back to the League Two menu. Charlton, so often in recent seasons a stumbling block for Argyle, and off the back of a miraculous two injury time goals at home in a four all draw with Ipswich, the donors of the two points that Town need to overtake our total, simply capitulated.
Town and their carefully selected match official romped home against the Addicks, who ended up with their ex-Ipswich striker Bonne both withdrawn and then reprimanded for liking some Ipswich supporting social media posts. Whilst the Ipswich born striker might have been unwise to do so, Charlton were only two down when he was withdrawn. The six nil win means Town now have a substantial advantage in the goal difference stakes of plus fifty-three, which is worth a point in the event they eventually catch Argyles total.
If Town finished Grand National Day like Red Rum, then no doubts over who is playing Crisp. The Wendies, having restored keeper Dawson after the failed experiment propping Stockdale in the goal and hoping the resultant lack of space would cramp the opposition forwards, and with Paterson back in the side after injury, set about collapsing to Burton Albion.
Not even the traditional late Smith penalty was enough to erode the three-one half time Albion lead. Even worse the opener was scored by John Brayford, the man whose outstretched arm denied Barnsley a certain goal over Easter and who by rights should have been in the stands watching whilst he served a suspension.
Darren Moores men plunged to third from top and have only four fixtures remaining. The bloodletting on Owlstalk was ferocious if predictable. Seven games after being undefeated in twenty-three and almost guaranteed the title (apparently) Moore has gone from Messiah to Anti-Christ in the calm rational way only football fans know how to do.
Come the final scores and Argyle retained top spot, once again rebounding after a defeat to gain points, a point ahead of Ipswich and two ahead of Wednesday. Barnsley now could catch Wednesday by winning their game in hand which rather helpfully is against Ipswich Town. Wednesday have an away trip to Bristol, the result of which will tell them if they need to get Stannah in to fit goalmouth stair lifts for Stockdale, or stick with Dawson and buy him a panic alarm to help him signal to his defence.
With Wednesdayâs Chairman being rumoured to be flying into the country for an âunexpected visitâ and criticism of the managers performance being amplified by media commentators as respected as Brian Laws and Dave Prutton, Moore could yet be the first person to be fired before he is able to collect his Manager of the Season trophy, where he has been nominated alongside our own Schuey and Kid McKenna. Only kidding Darren. Youâre not going to win it.
In the aftermath of the weekend results Port Vale, heading to Portman Road on Tuesday, fired Darrell Clarke after a run of two wins in eighteen. They will line up against the rampant Suffolk side with no fewer than four players suspended through four red cards (or as Charlton fans call it it, Ryan Inniss) hoping no doubt for a new coach bounce.
Argyle on the same night will be travelling to take on the seemingly easily bruised Strawberry Town, sitting in tenth place but through injuries and suspensions, gradually running out of players. In their one all draw at home to Portsmouth, the ex-Argyle loanee Tom Flanaghan returned from suspension only to receive his marching orders once again. This ensured he misses our match and will also have shot to the top of Accringtonâs shopping list for the summer.
Town boss Steve Cotterill was downbeat in assessing the clubâs position, as they have a substitutes creche, that until Saturday, when he was forced to throw on a ninetieth minute substitute, housed five youth team players and another ex-Argyle loanee (albeit one we broke) Harry Burgoyne, the ex Wolves keeper (and possibly centre half if needs be) which had a grand total of zero played outfield minutes. On the plus side he introduced a somewhat controversial new incentive scheme for his strikers which seemed to involve the virtue of his daughters. HMRC are believed to be investigating.
Town, who battled hard at Home Park before succumbing to a late Whittaker goal, will no doubt employ all their dark arts, something Pompey midfielder Marlon Pack bemoaned after Saturday.
These antics, which have also achieved the not too difficult feat of getting under Joey Bartons skin, recently resulted in a Rovers response to the Shrewsbury Tik Tok Eminem style video, which is to be found here should you want to underscore why Why Come v Shrewsbury might well be the least attended fixture of next season in League One.
https://www.tiktok.com/@brfc_offici...hrewsbury town bristol rovers&t=1681744948597
Joey himself will be busy on Tuesday, as his Gasheads entertain the wobbling Owls, whilst Barnsley take the short trip to home draw specialists LincolnâŚ.
As for Argyle, we will be hoping for a rerun of last seasonâs early trip to the Montgomery Waters, and the comfortable three nil win. Sam Cosgrove will be hoping that unlike that match, he puts his boots on the right feet, and shows the Shrews what they could have had. After that it will be a return to home comforts for a season defining week of games at Fortress Home Park, whilst Ipswich take on trips to Peterborough, Barnsley and finally Fleetwood.
It is the position we all hoped for but few of us thought was possible. We have undoubtedly over-achieved but nothing is decided yet. The mantra, one game at a time is never more apt.
The great tennis player Arthur Ashe said sagely,â Start where you are. Use what you have. Do what you can.â
There are still those who might think that what the club, our owners, our players and our backroom staff are trying to build is impossible. To those who think like that, I refer them to Muhammad Ali.
âImpossible is just a word thrown around by small men who find it easier to live in the world theyâve been given than to explore the power they have to change it. Impossible is not a fact. Itâs an opinion. Impossible is potential. Impossible is temporary. Impossible is nothing.â
COYG!!!!
