Looking Forward

THERE were a lot of Argyle supporters that left Home Park on Saturday evening with grins as wide as the mouth of the Tamar.

Three points and out of the relegation zone = a pleasant departure from the ground.

By the time they reached the comfort of their living room or local hostelry – or maybe even before they had left the car-park – John Sheridan had finished his celebrating and was looking ahead to another vital week in the Pilgrims’ season.

This week, two games at base camp have resulted in four points – the bare minimum required according to the stone-faced gaffer.

A draw with Bradford necessitated a win against Fleetwood, and it came. Now Argyle set sail for Southend on Tuesday before a trip to Chesterfield the following Saturday.

The first a date with some old flames for Argyle, with Sturrock, Coughlan et al; the second a foray into Derbyshire to visit Sheridan’s most recent relationship before hooking up with Argyle. It is a big week.

“I enjoyed the result, but I know what’s round the corner,” said  John, wagging a metaphorical finger and warning his players and fans not to get carried away with the win over Fleetwood.

“They’re two tough games but they are games that I think we can go and get something from if we work hard and prepare properly.

“At the end of the day I just want to be in this division. We know what’s at stake – we’ve got to try to win games. I’m setting a target of three points in every game we play now. The quicker we win games, the safer we’ll be before the end of the season.

“Three points is what we wanted; it gets us out of the bottom two. We’ve just got to carry on picking up points from games.”

Diehard travelling supporters will clock up a fair amount of miles if taking in both away trips this week, but that’s no new thing.

The quality and quantity of the Argyle support on the road, and at home, is well known to us, and perhaps we take it a little for granted sometimes.

John Sherdian has only been in situ at Home Park for a cup of coffee, and one gets the feeling he is still reeling about the racket the Green Army can make. They did their squad number proud against Fleetwood, and it had an effect on the gaffer.

“Those supporters were unbelievable,” he said, “and that’s not me trying to get on their side.

“How they got behind the team today...they could see we were under pressure, and they never shut up all game.

“I appreciate it and the players appreciate it.”