Playing For Keeps

…manager John Sheridan expressed frustration about his side’s inability to make their possession count. 

Argyle looked strong and enterprising in the first half at Roots Hall, but came under a little more pressure from the home side after the break. 

The manager felt that had his lads taken a little more car of the football, then Argyle might have picked up a valuable away win.  

“We do still give the ball away too cheaply, in my opinion, because it will give you a problem,” said John. 

“The opposition will cause you problems if you keep giving it away, but I thought we battled really hard to get something out of the game. That is the most pleasing thing.

“I just think we do make ourselves very vulnerable. Again, they are breaking when we are attacking – we just play the wrong pass or the wrong type of pass at the wrong time.

“We just did not get going in the second half – it was scrappy. We had the wind in the first half and sometimes that is an advantage. You could see that, and we just sat back a little bit deep and we did not get going on the ball.

“We give the ball away cheaply, and it ends up giving you a problem, because you are on the back foot when you are in possession.”

Andy Kellett was singled out by the manager as an example of Argyle’s effectiveness in the first half, yet his anonymity in the second was notable. 

As well as defending against Southend counterpart David Worrall, Kellett regularly stretched his legs down the left flank to create chances himself – nearly scoring in the first half as some clever link-up play with Jason Banton put him through on goal, only to be denied by Daniel Bentley in the Southend goal.

Sheridan believes Kellett was the key to his side’s successes in the opening 45 minutes, and would have liked to see the lads utilise the youngster more after the restart.

“I thought Andy Kellett was the best player on the pitch in the first half, then he barely got a kick in the second,” said John. 

“I would like the players to see why we are affecting the game in the first half and what is causing them a problem, and it was mainly down Andy’s side.