Front Foot

The Pilgrims went into the half-time break behind courtesy of Scott Boden finishing a route-one attack that cut Argyle wide open, lifting the ball over an on-rushing Luke McCormick after 24 minutes. Adams’ men came upped the tempo and quality after the break, though, and pulled level just three minutes after the restart, as Jake Jervis peeled off of his marker to nod home a pinpoint cross from Ryan Brunt.

Brunt took on goal-scoring duties 20 minutes from time to give the Greens the win, swivelling with his back to goal to fire home the stunning winner that the team’s efforts had warranted.

“To win away from home is never easy,” said Derek, “but we’ve been able to do that. This is one of the most difficult venues to come to. 

“If you look at the clubs this season, they’ve found it difficult coming here and getting a positive result, but we’ve come away with three points. 

“There was nothing in the first half. They had one ball in and they got the goal. But over the 90 minutes, I thought we were the better team, and probably should’ve scored a few more goals. We knew in the first half it was going to be difficult.

“Over 90 minutes we had more possession, more chances on goal, we probably could’ve had a couple of penalty kicks in there as well that we didn’t get, but to win the game is magnificent."

Adams had special praise for his two front-men on the day, who led the line in an Argyle set-up that showed discipline and versatility to fend off the Exiles in a number of different shapes.

“Great goals from Jake Jervis and Ryan Brunt,” said Derek, “but today was about getting the result. It was never going to be easy under the circumstances, and we’ve been able to pick up six points in two games. 

“He’s a big honest lad,” said Derek on the subject of Brunt, “and he puts himself about, and we thought that himself and Jervis, especially in the second half going down the hill, caused them all sorts of problems. 

“We changed the formation about a wee bit. We started 4-2-3-1 and switched to a diamond formation at half time, and changed to a 3-5-2 later on in the game. We’ve got the fluidity to change formation; we’ve got the players who can do that, as well. It saw us to the end of the match.