IN THE SPOTLIGHT
Argyle 0
Hull 1
Windass 45
PAUL Connolly was our first choice for today's 'In the Spotlight' feature against Hull City at Home Park.
Our tracksuit-loving right-back was the unnamed injury worry mentioned by manager Paul Sturrock in his Friday press conference, and Shelley's absence would have left Luggy with a difficult selection decision; as right-backs are precious commodities at Home Park this season.
Fitness test thankfully passed, Shelley started as one of the few survivors from Argyle's 3-2 FA Cup win over the Tigers just four weeks ago, with the Pilgrims showing five changes and Hull nine.
Krisztián Timár was another survivor and he looked to have given Argyle the lead on ten minutes but referee Paul Armstrong blew for a foul. Undeterred, the musical masters at HQ played the goal music in its entirety, possibly in the vain hope that Mr Armstrong may be convinced to change his mind by the stirring tones of the Fine Young Cannibals.
Shelley's early work was competent and unspectacular - just what you want from a full-back. The thing with Shelley is that you sometimes feel that with more belief he could be more of an attacking threat, e.g. Tuesday's penalty at Ipswich.
His direct opponent today was the painfully one-sided former Birmingham and Charlton midfielder Bryan Hughes - he could save himself some money and just wear an old trainer on his left-foot.
One surge forward by our man should have brought more reward but his flicked pass to captain Lil was severely under-hit, much to the delight of Hull City boss Phil Brown, who, by the way, wears the finest shoes of any touchline-trampler in the land.
A fairly bland contribution from Shelley but, mercifully, he looks fit enough to complete the game.
Rory Fallon was our next victim as the big Kiwi began to disrupt the Hull defence with his robust style.
The recently baptised Rory has now started the last four games for Argyle and credit must go to him for such a positive and determined response to some seriously harsh words dished out by Luggy just a few weeks ago.
Wayne Brown was the first Tiger to crack, using Rory as a climbing frame to concede a needless free-kick in Halmosi territory. Péter scored direct with an inswinging cross from this position in the cup game but the repeat performance was frankly woeful, and easily cleared.
Not just a big lump, Rory created a positive situation for the Pilgrims with some delicious footwork on a scruffy looking surface.
He has all the right ingredients but, and it is a big but, he must learn to attack the ball with more venom - an observation perfectly illustrated by the ease with which he was levered off the ball following a sumptuous goal-inviting cross by Shelley on 35 minutes.
Rory and Steve MacLean swapped roles with five minutes of the half remaining but Michael Turner to snuff out our man's chase through from the impressive Scot's headed flick.
The big man finished his spell in the spotlight with more neat link-play to feed Halmosi down the left but, moments later, Argyle's positive first-half performance suffered a hideous set-back.
Dean Windass gave Hull a scarcely deserved lead with the final act of the half after a Ricketts cross skirted through the Green defence and cannoned off him into the net.
Argyle's new number nine showed some lovely touches and clever movement in his blossoming partnership with big Rory.
However, our best hope in the opening exchanges of the second period was some stray balloons from the Devonport end ambling across the Hull penalty area - let's hope for a repeat of last weekend's latex-filled disaster (steady, we're still talking about balloons) for Manchester City at Bramall Lane.
Luggy responded to a lacklustre spell by replacing Luke Summerfield and Rory with Jimmy Abdou and Jermaine Easter. Hull responded to that with an Ian Ashbee shot that flew fractionally wide following more nervy defending from the Greens.
Stevie Mac's complete absence from the action told the story of Argyle's second half display up to the hour mark. He finally returned with some fine control on the edge of the Hull box but, to the frustration of the Green Army, he failed to get a shot away.
Our final contributor was Easter as Argyle desperately looked for some inspiration to lift the gloom. Unfortunately, his first act was to allow a cross from Chris Clark to carelessly bounce off his thigh and away for a goal-kick.
Rather better thigh work on 75 minutes gave Jermaine a faint whiff of an opening, but the ball ran away from him and Hull cleared their lines with irritating ease.
The last roll of the dice was the introduction of Lukas Jutkiewicz in place of Chris Clark and a conversion to a 4-3-3 formation - the way this game was going you felt we needed 9-9-9.
Even the emergency services could not help Argyle today and, as if we didn't already know, Luggy has a big job on his hands to get our season back on track.
