Starting Stall

JOHN Sheridan believes Argyle’s 2-1 Sky Bet League 2 defeat to Bury could have been avoided if their first-half performance matched their second-half display.

The Pilgrims’ sluggish start was punished after just five minutes, when Tom Soares latched on to a Nicky Adams free-kick to nod past Luke McCormick.

Ten minutes later, the Shakers took full control of the match, with Danny Rose adding a second from Ryan Lowe’s cross.

Argyle found their feet in the second half, and got their reward in the 66th minute as Reuben Reid was brought down right on the corner of Bury’s box. Referee James Adcock pointed to the spot, and Reid dusted himself off the fire home the penalty.

The hosts were hanging on for the remainder of proceedings, as the Greens created numerous chances, most notably Kelvin Mellor’s strike which was inadvertently turned away from goal by Reid.

Whilst encouraged with what he saw in the second 45 minutes, Sheridan was disappointed it took his team that long to show their ability.

“You can’t concede two goals like we did - that always makes it an uphill battle,” said John.

“In the second half, we were the team pushing on, and the game was there to get something out of.

“If we were braver and a bit more cute, I think we could have caused them some problems, and maybe get something out of the game, but it wasn’t to be in the end.

“You can’t give anyone a two-goal start, no matter who you are playing. The only positive is the second-half performance, when we did have a go and we were the better side.

 “[Bury] are a good team, they keep possession of the ball, but we have had one or two chances ourselves to score.

“I really do think the game was there to get something from. We should have been on it from the start.”