The Hunt Goes On

ARGYLE manager John Sheridan’s search for players continues apace.

The late withdrawal of forward Lewis Alessandra shortly before kick-off of Tuesday’s disappointing 1-0 home defeat by Wycombe Wanderers, together with the unforeseen absences of goal-threat Marvin Morgan and midfielder Dominic Blizzard, threw into stark relief the relative shallowness of the Argyle squad.

Flu victim Lewi; Marvin, whose partner Jerri gave birth to their first son; and Dom, who was suffering from a strained hamstring, are all back in contention for Saturday’s Sky Bet League 2 visit of Hartlepool to Home Park as Argyle look to break a run of two defeats.

However, that has not stopped John from vigorously pursuing some new recruits, albeit without making a breakthrough.

“I definitely think we need one or two new players just to add to what we’ve currently got and give us that little bit of extra strength and depth,” he said. “With the results, I think people are a bit down and we need someone to come in and give the players a push to try and get the best out of them.

“I’m trying my socks off. I rang three clubs yesterday. I rang and I enquired about three or four players, a couple for the same position, but you get the same old answer.”

That same old answer is influenced, the Argyle manager conceded, by the location of the caller, but he refuses to use that as a reason to stop his search

“Plymouth used to be in the Championship and it was never a problem then,” he said, “so I’m not making it an excuse.”

In response to former Pilgrim boss Neil Warnock’s recent offer of young up-and-coming prospects from Premier League outfit Crystal Palace, coaches Sean McCarthy and Paul Wotton were in attendance at an Under-21 fixture at Bristol City on Monday night.

John said: “There were one or two players that they liked. The contact I’ve had is that they’re worth watching again.

“But it’s lads who are playing in the Under-21s who have had no real experience of first time football anywhere so you’ve just got to be careful of whether they can come up into the first team.”