PAUL Mariner expects a reaction from his Pilgrims after their disappointing 1-0 defeat at Watford.
A poor game was settled five minutes after half-time by Heidar Helguson, leaving Argyle to contemplate what might have been.
With relegation rivals Scunthorpe, Sheffield Wednesday and Crystal Palace all losing, the chance had been there for the Greens to make ground in their fight for survival.
Now they need to win at least two of their final three games - against champions-in-waiting Newcastle and relegated Peterborough at home, and play-off certainties Nottingham Forest away - to stand a chance of getting out of trouble. Depending on other results, though, they could win all three and still fail to escape.
A frank and forthright Mariner admitted that survival hopes were: "Slim - there's no two ways about it. They were slim before today, but it's not changed that much. The only thing is that we've got a game less to get the points."
However, he promised that he and his players were not about to raise the white flag.
"There is definitely going to be a reaction from this performance," he said. "I know that for a fact.
"Yes, we've got Newcastle on Sky [television], it's a massive event and they can win the Championship, blah, blah, blah, but you don't know what is going to happen in the division.
"So, until it is impossible for us to stay up, we will be fighting.
"We need to show to our fans, who, again, were fantastic, what we are made of."
Asked to explain a lacklustre display, Paul said: "The word is 'puzzled'.
"We're puzzled by today. The players are working out - as we are, as a staff - what happened. We have got to perform better than we did today.
"The first thing that we do is self-assess. We wonder about the preparation. Obviously, before the game, we thought we had the preparation right, but the performance we put on today would say that wasn't the case.
"It's probably the worst performance since the Queen Park Rangers performance away from home.
"I'm not critical of anybody in particular. I'm just critical of the group. All of us have got to rise to the challenge.
"The game was a little bit scrappy, but games like this are scrappy.
"I'd be shocked if the players weren't nervous but, as a professional, when you are playing in big games, the nerves generally go away and you just play. That's when the training kicks in - I didn't think that happened today.
"At half-time, we were happy to come in at 0-0. I felt Watford were bright and were on the front foot. They did exactly what we wanted to do, and we didn't do it.
"The first goal in games like this is always massive, even though, when we went a goal down, we played a little bit better.
"It [came from] a free-kick for us, middle of the field, ball pumped in, and [Watford] broke on us. How many times has that happened this season?
"We actually spoke about it at half-time, that we cannot get done on the break, and we did."
Argyle were without skipper Carl Fletcher, who has recovered from the knee that was gashed in the home defeat by Blackpool five games ago, but recalled defender Richard Eckersley.
"We always miss the captain," said Paul. "We have missed him since the seventh minute [of the Blackpool match]. Carl would have been fit, but, in training this week, he did some jogging and tweaked his calf.
"He should be alright for next week.
"Eckers is a Premier League player and I felt we could be solid defensively, with the pace of Bolasie, Wright-Phillips and Mackie up front.
"He hasn't played since a horrendous tackle at Scunthorpe, so he is a little rusty."
