More Care Needed

GRAHAM Carey was quick to label Argyle’s second-half display in their 3-3 draw against Bath City as simply “not good enough”.

It was business as usual at Twerton Park for the opening 40 minutes of the Greens’ third pre-season friendly, as a goal from Ryan Brunt – assisted by Carey - and a brace from Jake Jervis saw them race out to a 3-0 lead. The hosts pulled one back before the break, though, and completed the fightback in the second half.

The Pilgrims were simply unable to replicate their first-half dominance, and Graham is dead set on eliminating those lapses in performance before the season gets underway – a sentiment that his manager agrees with. 

“I thought we played some really good football at times in the first half,” said Graham, “and a couple of good opportunities in the second half. 

“Maybe we got a bit complacent. You have to give the other team credit as well: they used the slope in the second half to their advantage and got a lot of balls in behind us, but we’re a good enough team to deal with that, and we should’ve.

“The second half wasn’t good enough, and we know the standards we set ourselves in the first half - we were moving the ball at a higher tempo and penetrating the opposition. In the second half, we didn’t do that. 

“I don’t think that, as a whole and as 11 players, we managed the game well enough.”

“If you’re going to have a bad performance, make sure it’s in pre-season and not when we’re going into the league, but the manager was right on us after the game. He told us it wasn’t good enough, and we knew that ourselves. 

“The positives are that we are scoring a lot of goals and creating a lot of opportunities, which is always good for us and the fans. But I think pre-season is where you sure up defensively and get your tactics right. 

“We know that, as a team, that wasn’t good enough in the second half.”