The Inquest

AFTER admitting that he did not see his side’s 3-0 home defeat to Wycombe Wanderers coming, Argyle boss John Sheridan now has the unenviable task of working out what happened.

Argyle were at least the equal of an on-form Wycombe team for 70 minutes during an admittedly uninspiring game but, after the visitors opened the scoring with 20 minutes to go, the Pilgrims rather meekly fell away.

While some might have expected the manager to berate his players after the heavy loss, he insists his approach was more tactile – though he is refusing to hide his disappointment.

“I haven’t had a go at them,” said John. “I don’t think it’s the time to have a go. But I’m very, very, very upset. I don’t expect us to lose 3-0 at home. We’ve been in a decent position and have been on a decent run.

“This is me: dour. And I’ll be dour until I know what we’ve done and then I’ll have a big smile on my face and have a drink. At the moment, I’m up and down. I’ve got to stay focused because I know that we could go on a run and win four or five games. At the same time, I know we could lose four or five.”

Sat next to Shez on the bench was Paul Anthony Wotton, a man of 36 years and of 477 appearances for Plymouth Argyle, recovering from injury and no doubt itching to get into the action.

John praised Wottsy’s ability to view a game, and expressed his wish that he could find a few more brains to join his squad and positively influence a game. Perhaps they will be brought in; perhaps they can be nurtured. All John knows is that they are needed.

He said: “Sometimes they are a bit single-minded in what they’ve got to do on the pitch. I’ve said before – and he’s 36 – but, as a player Wotton sees things on the pitch, and how we’re expressing ourselves on the pitch or if the opposition are causing problems for us.

“He gets a grip of players around and I think he’s the only player that does that.

“Some people may think they see it and do it, but they don’t. That’s not a criticism of them, but we need to get a few on the pitch.

“When someone’s having a tough time and doing the wrong thing on the pitch, it needs a whisper or a quiet word from someone to tell him ‘Stop doing that’ and make the game look simple.

“But it seems to be me from the sideline all the time at the moment.”