Turning Point

AS Argyle prepare to host Mansfield Town in our Sky Bet League 2 clash this Saturday, Argyle manager John Sheridan has been reflecting on the pivotal reverse tie earlier on this season.

Argyle won the fixture 1-0, thanks to Neal Trotman latching on the end of a Conor Hourihane free kick deep into injury time. It kick-started Argyle into an improved run of results and performances that has seen the Pilgrims rise through the table.

Last season, the Stags won promotion to the Football League and started off very brightly this campaign. Since then however, Mansfield have been on a decline, but have recently started to turn things around. John Sheridan has hailed Paul Cox’s side for the character they’ve shown.

“It seems a long way away now,” said John. “It was a tight game and a goal from Neal in the last minute, and we seemed to get a few results after that. They’re a tough team; they had a bad run since then, but they’re starting to pick up and they’re a strong outfit.

“They’ll be organised. They’re a solid side with some big players in the team, a good set of players who are playing a system that was effective for them this season and last.

“It will be one where we try to break them down, but we know we’ve got to try and win the game, and to get at them and try to cause them problems.”

The boss also looked back on our previous League 2 outing, where Argyle drew 1-1 with Cheltenham Town, courtesy of a Luke Young free kick. Sheridan said that the league is very unpredictable.

“It doesn’t matter who you’re playing, Cheltenham came last weekend and they hadn’t won in three, and they made life very difficult for us.

“You can look at the results in our league, it’s difficult to predict. I always worry – and a lot of other managers will agree - you’re worried about how your team is going to play, rather than the opposition.

It would be easy to describe the game with Mansfield as ‘winnable’; the manager said that he sees all of our League 2 clashes as winnable, yet tough, games.

Sheridan said: “You can say they’re all winnable games, but they’re all going to be tough games. I don’t think anyone is better than anyone else, just because you look at the table and they are better, but they’re constantly better. Any team on the day can beat any other.

“On a day I think everyone is evenly matched, I really do.

“I know we’re as good as anyone on the day, but consistently, we don’t show that over the games we’ve played.”