One Game at a Time: You’re Only here for the Pasties
The R's (H) April 9th
Is it too soon for Auld Lang Syne.? The return of the dynamic duo in the dugout, leading to the immediate restoration of auld acquaintances in the team selection. As Nirvana never sang, “smells like team spirit” as a thousand Greens made the up-country trek to the New York for a game that was make or break for Argyle, and the last chance saloon for our hosts.
Rotherham, whose Mission Impossible was to win five games and reverse a -39 goal difference deficit (and still have to rely on us not picking up a single other point from four games) lined up with former Grecian Noumbe leading the line with Charlie Wyke. Argyle lined up with only one of the new signings in the starting line up in Ash Phillips (to be fair Devine was suspended and Gyabi injured), but undoubtedly making a statement with the recall of allegedly banished Dan Scarr and Callum Wright in their first starts since a couple of regimes ago.
With Non-Executive Chairman Simon Hallett using his pre-match interview to issue a call for applications Argyle begam with verve and spirit. Wright, whose alice-banded hair and boyish demeanour always gives the impression that at any moment an embarrassed club official is going to have to run onto the pitch and take away the mascot they forgot to take with them after the handshake ceremony, played well for an hour and along with Morgs, Mumba and a, still somewhat out of sorts, Hardie, the team set about reverting to a style of play we could recognisably call Argyle.
With Johanson making his 250th save of the season during the game, the traffic was, unlike the journey up, all flowing one way, and come the 32nd minute a trademark surge in from the right touchline from Whittaker ended with a superb, clipped pass to Mumba. Instantly controlled, three touches later the ball was in the net, and the lead was never seriously threatened from that point onwards.
The celebrations were as much an expression of relief as anything else, and one felt for the Rotherham fans, whose arrival in the bottom three last September had never remotely been threatened with climbing out. Argyle had their first double of the season and will be hoping for one more.
The Millers, run like Argyle on a relative shoestring by an owner whose passion for his hometown club means he will not bet the farm, have been the archetypal yo-yo club. This season was the first time in several that they have stayed at their prior level, and the fact that their minimal investment effectively only bought their yo-yo a slightly longer string underscores the challenge that Argyle will face if they succeed in maintaining their Championship status.
So that at least meant a relatively calm Saturday for a change as Argyle could rest up while the other candidates for the drop used up another of their remaining fixtures.
The race to the bottom remains as chaotic and tight as it ever did. Sides that a few games ago were winning week on week and looking safe are now finding themselves pulled back into the mix. Added to that is the traditional factor that the teams everyone assumes are going to stroll to the end of the season, casually flicking away the minor irritations of the mid and lower table teams, suddenly find that winning habit is strangely hard to come by.
Hence, only Leicester of the top five managed a win, and even that was a late, late winner against struggling Brum, along with Norwich who retained the Kings of East Anglia bragging rights for yet another year by defeating Ipswich. Leeds lost at Coventry whose FA Cup/promotion double is still on, the Baggies chucked away a two-nil lead at Stoke, made all the more annoying by ex-Pilgrim Alex Palmer saving the penalty that was then rammed home for the point, and Millwall did the almost impossible Yorkshire double of losing to Huddersfield as well as Rotherham in consecutive away games. After a resurgence following the dismissal of their ex-England youth coach, the ’Wall are right back in it and next up for them are newly back on top Leicester City! A rip-roaring home defeat with some red cards and hefty late challenges would be ideal.
If Millwall are heading south faster than Jack Grealish to Dubai in an international break, it shows how much the situation can change in just a few weeks. So time to welcome to our forthcoming opponents QPR.
Having taken the plunge and heaved Gareth the Greaser out of the side door complete with haka lite motivational dancers and nodding dog number two, Richard Dobson, Rangers brought in Marti Cifuentes, and, after some bedding in time it looked like the West London massive had struck gold, with a superlative run after the middle of January of only two defeats in thirteen that included away wins at Swansea, Brizzle, Blackburn, and, perhaps most remarkably Leicester City.
It is a measure of how deep in the crapper Ainsworth had deposited them that despite this run, it has only taken a defeat on Saturday, when the Wendies were the least awful of the two sides and still scraped home, with a last minute second, to supplement their comical first, to leave the R’s heading West knowing a defeat leaves them just above the dreaded dotted line and with a final four fixtures against Hull, Preston, Leeds and Coventry. All teams still in the thick of the promotion chase.
The issue at Loftus Road has been goals. Not enough for and too many against. Indeed, their recent two back-to-back Easter wins came courtesy of previously barren centre halves Dunne and Cook suddenly going all prolific and netting all three goals in wins over Birmingham and Swansea.
Other than that recent spurt the main threat comes from Belgian convict Ilias Chair. Well, he is Moroccan, but his conviction for assault was in Belgium, and despite the custodial sentence imposed in his absence, at least one set of football fans can finally point to a Brexit benefit and the fact their star playmaker doesn’t have to drag a tag around on his favoured left peg.
The fact is that, to most Argyle fans, there is no great desire to send Rangers down, but needs must. Indeed, there would be an irony if we dragged Rangers back into the maw alongside Huddersfield and Rotherham creating one of the most unusual potential managerial trebles for Neil Warnock. I am not sure if another season has seen three sides relegated who had all at some point had the same manager (and if it has happened the odds are it may well be Colin, although John Sheridan might be in with a shout as well).
We did have that brief flirtation with rivalry the last time we surged to this exalted level after Trigger and Daveed scored the goals in front of almost twenty thousand. The truth is we have always got on pretty well with Rangers fans. They were sporting in defeat in the League Cup in the 73/4 semi-final run and as opponents at Home Park it is twenty-one years and counting since the Greens tasted defeat at home to Rangers. That includes the current evolving ownerships start of reign when the bright future that was Frank Nouble scored a rather good goal to seal a 3-2 Cup win behind closed doors in the Covid years as the Lowe/Schumacher football comet trailblazed on its early trajectory.
A home win would leave the R’s, as it were, right in it and right up against it. Especially with several of the other sides in the vicinity having games against rivals which means someone is going to pick up points. Obviously, we have trips to Stoke and Millwall, Huddersfield have Birmingham who also have a trip to relegated Rotherham. Wednesday can build on their win at QPR with games against Stoke and Blackburn but if they don’t then those two sides look as if they can scramble free.
To add a cold-water splash of reality, the only two relegation threatened sides with more than a single win in their last five games are Stoke and QPR, and they both only have two. Every other side up to and including Sunderland in thirteenth have only one. In effect it means that even Swansea on forty-seven points, but with remaining fixtures that include games against Millwall, Stoke and Huddersfield, and on a poor run themselves cannot yet count themselves as being safe.
Wise counsel will say, as this regular column does, one game at a time. It seems clear that this one is going down to the wire, both at the top and at the bottom. Einstein said, “God does not play dice with the Universe.”
He may not, but I’ll bet he is tempted to have some fun with his Championship ACCA this week.
Rangers will probably be without Frey and Colback. Whether Argyle can coax another ninety minutes from Scarr and Wright if their unexpected recalls are extended remains to be seen. Scarr will doubtless recall he has already had one red card mare against Rangers and can ill afford another.
With Leicester to follow on Friday, Argyle will be hoping for a win, would probably be OK with a draw depending on other results.
After that all choppers lead to the Potteries.
COYG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
The R's (H) April 9th
Is it too soon for Auld Lang Syne.? The return of the dynamic duo in the dugout, leading to the immediate restoration of auld acquaintances in the team selection. As Nirvana never sang, “smells like team spirit” as a thousand Greens made the up-country trek to the New York for a game that was make or break for Argyle, and the last chance saloon for our hosts.
Rotherham, whose Mission Impossible was to win five games and reverse a -39 goal difference deficit (and still have to rely on us not picking up a single other point from four games) lined up with former Grecian Noumbe leading the line with Charlie Wyke. Argyle lined up with only one of the new signings in the starting line up in Ash Phillips (to be fair Devine was suspended and Gyabi injured), but undoubtedly making a statement with the recall of allegedly banished Dan Scarr and Callum Wright in their first starts since a couple of regimes ago.
With Non-Executive Chairman Simon Hallett using his pre-match interview to issue a call for applications Argyle begam with verve and spirit. Wright, whose alice-banded hair and boyish demeanour always gives the impression that at any moment an embarrassed club official is going to have to run onto the pitch and take away the mascot they forgot to take with them after the handshake ceremony, played well for an hour and along with Morgs, Mumba and a, still somewhat out of sorts, Hardie, the team set about reverting to a style of play we could recognisably call Argyle.
With Johanson making his 250th save of the season during the game, the traffic was, unlike the journey up, all flowing one way, and come the 32nd minute a trademark surge in from the right touchline from Whittaker ended with a superb, clipped pass to Mumba. Instantly controlled, three touches later the ball was in the net, and the lead was never seriously threatened from that point onwards.
The celebrations were as much an expression of relief as anything else, and one felt for the Rotherham fans, whose arrival in the bottom three last September had never remotely been threatened with climbing out. Argyle had their first double of the season and will be hoping for one more.
The Millers, run like Argyle on a relative shoestring by an owner whose passion for his hometown club means he will not bet the farm, have been the archetypal yo-yo club. This season was the first time in several that they have stayed at their prior level, and the fact that their minimal investment effectively only bought their yo-yo a slightly longer string underscores the challenge that Argyle will face if they succeed in maintaining their Championship status.
So that at least meant a relatively calm Saturday for a change as Argyle could rest up while the other candidates for the drop used up another of their remaining fixtures.
The race to the bottom remains as chaotic and tight as it ever did. Sides that a few games ago were winning week on week and looking safe are now finding themselves pulled back into the mix. Added to that is the traditional factor that the teams everyone assumes are going to stroll to the end of the season, casually flicking away the minor irritations of the mid and lower table teams, suddenly find that winning habit is strangely hard to come by.
Hence, only Leicester of the top five managed a win, and even that was a late, late winner against struggling Brum, along with Norwich who retained the Kings of East Anglia bragging rights for yet another year by defeating Ipswich. Leeds lost at Coventry whose FA Cup/promotion double is still on, the Baggies chucked away a two-nil lead at Stoke, made all the more annoying by ex-Pilgrim Alex Palmer saving the penalty that was then rammed home for the point, and Millwall did the almost impossible Yorkshire double of losing to Huddersfield as well as Rotherham in consecutive away games. After a resurgence following the dismissal of their ex-England youth coach, the ’Wall are right back in it and next up for them are newly back on top Leicester City! A rip-roaring home defeat with some red cards and hefty late challenges would be ideal.
If Millwall are heading south faster than Jack Grealish to Dubai in an international break, it shows how much the situation can change in just a few weeks. So time to welcome to our forthcoming opponents QPR.
Having taken the plunge and heaved Gareth the Greaser out of the side door complete with haka lite motivational dancers and nodding dog number two, Richard Dobson, Rangers brought in Marti Cifuentes, and, after some bedding in time it looked like the West London massive had struck gold, with a superlative run after the middle of January of only two defeats in thirteen that included away wins at Swansea, Brizzle, Blackburn, and, perhaps most remarkably Leicester City.
It is a measure of how deep in the crapper Ainsworth had deposited them that despite this run, it has only taken a defeat on Saturday, when the Wendies were the least awful of the two sides and still scraped home, with a last minute second, to supplement their comical first, to leave the R’s heading West knowing a defeat leaves them just above the dreaded dotted line and with a final four fixtures against Hull, Preston, Leeds and Coventry. All teams still in the thick of the promotion chase.
The issue at Loftus Road has been goals. Not enough for and too many against. Indeed, their recent two back-to-back Easter wins came courtesy of previously barren centre halves Dunne and Cook suddenly going all prolific and netting all three goals in wins over Birmingham and Swansea.
Other than that recent spurt the main threat comes from Belgian convict Ilias Chair. Well, he is Moroccan, but his conviction for assault was in Belgium, and despite the custodial sentence imposed in his absence, at least one set of football fans can finally point to a Brexit benefit and the fact their star playmaker doesn’t have to drag a tag around on his favoured left peg.
The fact is that, to most Argyle fans, there is no great desire to send Rangers down, but needs must. Indeed, there would be an irony if we dragged Rangers back into the maw alongside Huddersfield and Rotherham creating one of the most unusual potential managerial trebles for Neil Warnock. I am not sure if another season has seen three sides relegated who had all at some point had the same manager (and if it has happened the odds are it may well be Colin, although John Sheridan might be in with a shout as well).
We did have that brief flirtation with rivalry the last time we surged to this exalted level after Trigger and Daveed scored the goals in front of almost twenty thousand. The truth is we have always got on pretty well with Rangers fans. They were sporting in defeat in the League Cup in the 73/4 semi-final run and as opponents at Home Park it is twenty-one years and counting since the Greens tasted defeat at home to Rangers. That includes the current evolving ownerships start of reign when the bright future that was Frank Nouble scored a rather good goal to seal a 3-2 Cup win behind closed doors in the Covid years as the Lowe/Schumacher football comet trailblazed on its early trajectory.
A home win would leave the R’s, as it were, right in it and right up against it. Especially with several of the other sides in the vicinity having games against rivals which means someone is going to pick up points. Obviously, we have trips to Stoke and Millwall, Huddersfield have Birmingham who also have a trip to relegated Rotherham. Wednesday can build on their win at QPR with games against Stoke and Blackburn but if they don’t then those two sides look as if they can scramble free.
To add a cold-water splash of reality, the only two relegation threatened sides with more than a single win in their last five games are Stoke and QPR, and they both only have two. Every other side up to and including Sunderland in thirteenth have only one. In effect it means that even Swansea on forty-seven points, but with remaining fixtures that include games against Millwall, Stoke and Huddersfield, and on a poor run themselves cannot yet count themselves as being safe.
Wise counsel will say, as this regular column does, one game at a time. It seems clear that this one is going down to the wire, both at the top and at the bottom. Einstein said, “God does not play dice with the Universe.”
He may not, but I’ll bet he is tempted to have some fun with his Championship ACCA this week.
Rangers will probably be without Frey and Colback. Whether Argyle can coax another ninety minutes from Scarr and Wright if their unexpected recalls are extended remains to be seen. Scarr will doubtless recall he has already had one red card mare against Rangers and can ill afford another.
With Leicester to follow on Friday, Argyle will be hoping for a win, would probably be OK with a draw depending on other results.
After that all choppers lead to the Potteries.
COYG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
