Last Gasp Lewi

FOR a man who has already scored two absolute pearlers at Birmingham City this season...

...it is appropriate Lewi Alessandra was extolling the virtues of keeping on until the end of the road after his late winner against Northampton.

Striker Lewi notched in the 90th minute as the Pilgrims put together back-to-back wins for the second time this season, ending Northampton Town’s stubborn resistance to record a second successive 1-0 win and lift the Pilgrims to 17th in the Sky Bet League 2 table.

“It was class; it was amazing,” said the 24-year-old, who joined the Pilgrims from Morecambe in the summer. “My first goal at Home Park; my first the goal in the league.

“It helps us to another win. It’s important to keep picking up points and wins in the position we’re in. That’s seven points from nine, now. Hopefully, we can kick on even further.”

Like his strike partner Reuben Reid, their team mates, and a vociferous Home Park crowd, Lewi had been thwarted all afternoon by some top-quality goalkeeping from Cobblers’ ’keeper Matt Duke.

He said: “He was pulling off some good saves and, unfortunately, palming things away from goal so there were never any second chances.

“I thought: ‘It’s going to be one of those days again’, a frustrating afternoon when we’ve been on top and not scoring when we’re on top, not taking our chances. I had one five or ten minutes previous to the chance where [the ball] got whizzed across and I didn’t manage to put it.

“So I was a bit frustrated with myself and, when the other chance came round, I was obviously delighted to see it hit the back of the net.

“I initially thought [the shot] might go a bit wide, but I thought ‘I’m shooting all day here’, you know, the unwritten rule for strikers, shoot across goal.

“I was coming from a deeper position. Reuben got hold of the ball really well. I ran off the back of my lad because I’ve already got the momentum, coming from a deeper position. I’ve got the run on him and he couldn’t catch me and I’ve got a free shot on goal.”

Lewi believes that the experience of the previous week, when Argyle had stood up to a physical test at Mansfield before winning 1-0 through Neal Trotman’s injury-time header had given belief to players and the Green Army alike.

He said: “The fans were right behind us, to the last minute. We had the chances; we were on top, and we just had that will to win.

“With winning in the 93rd minute last week, you have that belief: if we score in the last minute, we score in the last minute. We can do it.

“We know, when we’re doing well, the crowd can be a massive factor and be on our side massively, so we just need to keep plugging away, keep playing well. The big thing for us is just getting goals when we are on top of games.”