Look How Far We've Come

NICK Chadwick believes it a measure of Argyle’s growing self-belief that the Pilgrims came away with a point from a 1-1 draw – and a fourth successive game unbeaten – at sodden Accrington.

Although far from their best, the Greens scrapped their way to a half-time lead when Onismor Bhasera followed in Robbie Williams’ free-kick.

They were pegged back early in the second period when former England striker James Beattie smashed the ball home, and after digging in under pressure, finished strongly with Warren Feeney missing a penalty and Darren Purse heading against the crossbar.

Chaddy said: “With the weather and the conditions, we always knew it was going to be a scrap and that’s the way it turned out.

“We were unfortunate, after going ahead and getting a penalty, that we didn’t take all three points.

“We are probably a little bit disappointed but, maybe, at the beginning of the season, we might not have got anything out of that game: coming here in awful conditions on an awful pitch after a long journey – it had all the hallmarks of a home win.

“But we are a lot tougher, mentally, now. You can tell we are coming off the back of some half-decent results. We’re getting things out of games.

“That mentality is a good thing and it speaks volumes that we’re a little bit disappointed that we didn’t get three points.

“The club has come from one hell of a position not so long ago. I don’t think anyone needs to get too doom-and-gloom about what we are trying to do.

“We have got a lot of young players and I think we missed the experienced ones at the beginning of the season, when we played well without getting results.

“Now we’re starting to pick up results. We come somewhere like this today. Yes, we haven’t won, but we picked a result up. If you can keep picking results up, it builds momentum, builds confidence and we can go on a run.

“We all know it’s a results business, but the fact that the club is right behind the manager and the players are right behind the manager speaks volumes.

Nick was just behind Baz as the Argyle players charged in to profit when Robbie’s 27th-minute free-kick rebounded from a post.

“It was a great free-kick from Willo,” he said.

“He brings, not only that quality, but a little bit of experience back into the team, as well. It’s nice to have him back out there - it’s another experienced player for us and he has got great quality in his left foot.

“Once [Accrington] scored, I thought we got back in control of the game and there was only going to be one team that was going to win it but, unfortunately, we couldn’t convert another chance.

“I was right behind [Purse’s header]. He was really unfortunate. It was a great header and we both thought it was going to loop back in.”