Luke's Mixed Emotions

FROM dreamland to despair in a quarter of an hour: Argyle midfielder Luke Young experienced the whole range of emotions in Saturday’s Devon Expressway Derby.

Local boy Luke came off the substitutes’ bench to fire the Pilgrims level at league 2 rivals Exeter City with a superbly taken 69th-minute free-kick.

The goal, and the impact that he and fellow sub Reuben Reid had on the match, briefly promised to put Argyle on the road to victory.

However, several splendid saves by City goalkeeper Artur Krysiak thwarted the Pilgrims before ex-Argyle midfielder Alan Gow put the home team ahead with eight minutes to play and Scot Bennett rubbed salt in the wounds with an injury-time third.

“You always dream about it,” said Luke, one of only three Janners in the Pilgrims’ squad, of his goal.

“Before the game even came up, I was thinking how nice it would be to score in front of the Argyle fans at Exeter. It was a massive feeling and to make it 1-1, as well, was even better.

“But it’s no consolation, because we got beaten again.

“When the free-kick came up, it was a chance to hit the target and make something out of the game. When I saw it in the back of the net, it was a massive boost for me and for the team.

“When the goal went in, we were pushing for the win. There were a couple of chances where their ’keeper has pulled off a couple of saves.

“ If those two go in, the game is ours to win; when they get saved, you kind of think ‘Is it going to be our day? Are we going to get the next goal?’

“Maybe we should have tried to grind it out and take a point at the end of the day, but I think it shows in the dressing-room that we want to win games. When you go 1-1 in games likes this, sometimes you can sit back, but we wanted to go for the win and we created a couple of chances and if those go in, we win the game.

“I thought we played well. We ground it out when times were tough and passed the ball around, got  the ball up to the front men, and when that goal came, it gave us a massive boost and that showed in our performance for about ten minutes after the goal went in. We were trying to go for the win.”

A win is something Argyle have not experienced for four games now, but Luke is convinced the tide will soon turn.

He said: “Obviously we’re disappointed we’ve not got the results because I think the performances are there.  I think everybody knows that and everybody’s been saying that.

“It’s just a matter of everybody sticking together, grinding things out and, before you know it, we’ll win three or four on the bounce and we’ll climb back up that table to where we should be.”