Caolan In

CAOLAN Lavery will play up front when the Pilgrims face Bury in Sky Bet League 2 game at Home Park this weekend.

Caolan, who is on loan from Sheffield Wednesday, will make his first Argyle start on Saturday, having made an impression as a substitute in the last four games.

The lack of goals for Argyle has led manager John Sheridan to tinker with his regular two-up-front partnership of Reuben Reid and Lewis Alessandra and give the 21-year-old Caolan his first start as an Argyle player.

“I’m not going to make many changes, but Lavery will be starting,” said John.

“He’s come on and done well in the past. In the York game, he could have scored; he got the penalty the other day [at Chesterfield] and could have scored – the ’keeper made a great save.

“With the lack of goals at the moment and us playing at home, he could just give us the something different that we need.”

Argyle welcome Bury to Home Park on Saturday, when they will be looking to secure an important three points in a demanding time for the Pilgrims, who will be playing four matches in 12 days.

“It’s a busy and important time for us.” said John.

“The games come thick and fast and, if you if you can get a couple of positive results, you go into the new year feeling good. You can find yourself jumping five or six places very quickly in this league.”

John also believes the New Year is a good time for Plymouth to steal a march on their rivals.

“There’s always a team that comes through from the pack in the New Year that no-one expects,” he said. “Let that be us.”

Bury currently sit 19th in the table, just the three points behind Argyle, so John is under no illusions just how important this game is.

“They’re a very good team,” he said, “If they win, they go level with us; if we win, we go six points clear of Bury, so we’ve just got to focus on ourselves and play our game.

“They’ve got a new manager, so he’ll have new ideas but we’re at home and we’ve got to be positive, take the game on and try and get the win.”

The lack of goals for Argyle has no doubt been a source of frustration for the manager who has seen his team play some good football without scoring the goals their approach play has deserved.

“Not getting the ball in the back of the net has been a problem this season,” said John.

“On our day, I think we’re as good as any team in the league and I’ve got the confidence in myself and in the players that, by the end of the season, we can get to where we want to be.”