Six Point Success

ARGYLE’S 1-0 victory over Rochdale means that the Pilgrims have made their best start to a Football League campaign for seven years.

The win, which lifted John Sheridan’s men to ninth in League 2, was the second three-point success out of the four games they have played in the new league season.
 
Not since 2006-07, when Argyle were a Championship side and had seven points after three matches, have the Pilgrims reached six points so soon after the campaign kicked off.
 
Last season, they hit the six-point mark in game seven, while the season before that, it took a massive 13 matches to chalk up the same tally.
 
In fact, only three times in the 13 seasons of the 21st century have Argyle been quicker off the mark than they have been under John this time round.
 
Not that a slick start is any guarantee of success in the long run: on the two previous occasions when Argyle notched their sixth point as early as game three, they finished 17th in the Championship (2004-05) and eighth in Division 2 (now League 1, 2002-03).
 
The reverse principle applies. When the Pilgrims won the Division 2 title in 2003-04 and the Division 3 crown two seasons previously, it took them five games to get to six points.