Shez's Disappointment

JOHN Sheridan did not mince his words after Argyle came from behind to earn a 1-1 draw at York on Saturday.

“For 70 minutes, I though we were very poor, probably the worst we’ve played this season,” he said after substitute Tope Obadeyi’s first goal as a Pilgrim in the 64th minute cancelled out Ryan Bowman’s opener 10 minutes earlier.

Thank goodness, then, for the last 20 minutes and the form of goalkeeper Luke McCormick, whose outstanding first-half save from Chris Smith was the pick of some fine stops.

“I’m really disappointed with the performance, but I thought we finished really strong and could have nicked it in the end,” said John.

“We could have been two or three down at half-time – I thought we were shocking in the first half. Luke’s kept us in the game, first half.

“We were terrible. I’ll hold my hands up. I don’t think we had a corner. I think we had one shot – we just didn’t get going. Even for 20 minutes of the second half, we were very flat.

“I said to [the players] ‘I don’t want to wait for 70 minutes for us to turn up.’ The game could have been over and done with.”

Things started to turn Argyle’s way after John introduced substitutes Luke Young, Tope, and Andres Gurrieri in quick succession early in the second half.

“Tope and the subs came on and gave us a bit of a lift,” he said “We went to 4-4-2 and got back in the game. Tope has been here a week now and I can see he’s got that spark about him and I’m pleased he has got his first goal.

“We’ve played 3-5-2 for the last six or seven games but I was looking at us, thinking ‘Have we just started playing this today?’

“I always say, before the game: ‘If you’re a sub, make sure you are watching the game and how you can affect it.’ When you bring a sub on, you hope they can make a difference, and that’s what my subs did today.

“We just retained the ball a little bit better. You’ve got to work hard to keep it – it doesn’t come easy, keeping the ball. I just don’t think we made any attempt for 70 minutes to control the game.

“It’s positive that we finished really strong and we looked like the team that was going to win it in the end.

“So I’m happy with a draw, to get something out of the game. I think it’s important that we try to get something out of our next league game. Dagenham is a big game.”