Back To Max Power

AFTER missing out on Argyle’s previous two games with blurred vision, Maxime Blanchard returned to the side in the 4-1 win at Barnet, and the popular Frenchman’s joy was clear for all to see.

Max nabbed Argyle’s second goal in the rout at Underhill, powering home a header from Alex MacDonald’s pinpoint corner.

“It was a great delivery,” said Max, afterwards, “We’ve worked on it on the training pitch, those balls.

"It was the perfect ball to attack, and I hit at its highest point with the front of my head.

"As it had some pace on it, I just had to have the right technique and the pace takes it straight into the goal.

“I think on set-pieces we were a real threat today.

“We talk about it, as centre halves, the amount of goals we score in a season. It’s good to go up and do something that’s worth a goal.”

Blanchard had a fine game, back alongside Darren Purse in the heart of Argyle’s defence, and indeed across the entire Argyle line-up there was not a sub-par performance to be seen.

The Pilgrims were just too much for rock bottom Barnet, and ended up cruising to victory.

Obviously the three points on the board was the most important upshot of the performance, but the extra pleasure for the Pilgrims was the magnitude and the style of the win.

Many times already this season Argyle’s players have walked off the pitch feeling they have played well but come away with one point at the most.

This was a statement that The Pilgrims can play well and win, scoring plenty into the bargain.  

Maxime said: “We talk about the fact that if we do the right things in a game, we have more chance to win it.

"So far in the season we’ve been unlucky not to score more goals and to concede on individual mistakes.

"We could have scored even more today, which shows how we have improved and that feels good to be rewarded.”

Max revealed that it was not until Friday that he was cleared to play, having overcome the symptoms that saw him checked out at an Oxfordshire hospital after the fixture at Wycombe eleven days previous.

“I’m better,” he said. “I’m a little tired now, because of the injury.

"If you concentrate like that for ninety minutes it’s really tiring and the level of concentration is very hard to keep up.

“You have to be really careful with it. The Doc gave me six steps to go through – to come back slightly to sporting activity then progressively increase the tempo and increase the contact until full contact where you can head the ball.

“I’m now going to sleep for two days!”