Lewi's All Right

LEWIS Alessandra is up front about wanting to play up front for the Pilgrims, but is perfectly alright with taking his place on the right side of the Argyle attack.

The adaptable forward, who scored a satisfying 12 goals last season, has started the current Sky Bet League 2 campaign as an attacking flank man and has yet to get off the mark after five matches in which the Pilgrims have scored nine times.

Many of Lewi’s goals last term came when he played down the middle alongside leading scorer Reuben Reid, who, this season, has more often than not played as the Pilgrims’ lone out-and-out forward.

“When I’m playing football, I’m happy; I’m in the team and I’ll always be giving it my best,” said Lewi, 25. “If it’s the formation we’re playing, I’m more than happy to be playing on the right or the left – I don’t mind either. Reuben is always going to be that predominant front man down the middle; he’s started well and long may it continue.

“I know I’m probably not going to score as many goals playing on the right as I am playing right up next to Reuben in a two, but that’s the way we are playing at the minute, the formation. I’ll always be looking to score as many as I can, but I do feel I’d be getting more chances if I was to be playing with Reuben in a two.

“I think I need to get closer to Rube at times and get in a central position where you are going to get scoring opportunities, but it’s not like it’s a problem for us. We’ve scored seven goals at home in three games.”

It was nearly eight, with Lewi hitting the crossbar in the 3-3 Capital One Cup tie against League 1 Leyton Orient and being deprived of a spectacular opener to his personal seasonal tally.

“It’s annoying,” he said. “If that had gone in, I felt like it would have opened the way – you score one, you start scoring many. You could see that last year; you just get a little bit of a run going. But it wasn’t to be.”

Argyle host Southend United on Saturday looking to extend their three-match unbeaten Home Park run this season, in which successive away defeats to Cambridge and Bury have contributed to a mixed bag of results overall.

Lewi said: “We had a poor start at Cambridge; the Exeter result was obviously nice, being Exeter, as well – three goals and a clean sheet; the Stevenage game wasn’t great, everyone will admit that, but we went to the last minute and got a point; then we followed that with a disappointing result at Bury.

“We’re expecting a tough game against Southend, but we’re the home team and we’re looking to get a bit of a run going at home and making it a tough place to come.”