Hard To Take

AFTER an Argyle performance full of chances and endeavour, John Sheridan has admitted their 1-0 loss to Stevenage is “hard to take.”

On a number of occasions under the lights at the Lamex Stadium, the Pilgrims looked set to make their long, midweek haul up-country worthwhile; never more so than when Bobby Reid’s side-footed volley from a Drew Talbot cross rattled the crossbar in the first half.

The Greens battled a rapidly degrading playing surface to dominate spells of the fixture against a fellow Sky Bet League 2 promotion contender, with their manager praising the way his team adapted to the unfavourable conditions.
 
“I felt we dealt with the game,” said John. “They’re a difficult team to play against, with the way they play. We’ve had some good opportunities; Bobby should score when he hits the bar.

“It was a horrible game on a horrible pitch. It was really slow, and [Stevenage] slow it down. I thought we dug in and we had a good go. The pitch is shocking, and there were one or two little mistakes where it was difficult to control the ball, but I think we nullified them.

“They are decent and they are strong at home. I think there was one long ball that went over us but, other than that, I was really comfortable with how the game was going.”

The Greens looked set to take at least a well-deserved point from the game, until the ghastly feeling of a sucker punch finding the sweet spot and sending us to the canvas fell over the team and the plentiful Green Army in attendance. Bruno Andrade latched on to a clearance from an Argyle corner and raced through to slot past Luke McCormick, a matter of seconds before the game ticked into second half stoppage time.

The late strike saw Argyle succumb to their second straight defeat to clubs around them in the table, but despite the bitter taste left in his mouth by the result, Sheridan is already looking to Saturday’s game against Northampton Town as a chance to re-enter the play-off places.

“Obviously with them scoring so late in the game, I don’t think we deserved to lose the game. No way,” said John. “It’s hard to take, because I thought it was a decent performance.

“There’s no way, I felt, that we should’ve lost the game. It’s just really disappointing that we didn’t end up getting anything from the game.

“It was an ugly game and we dealt with it, but we have been beaten. There are no excuses; we have just got to stick together and try and get a result quickly, get on a little run and just stay in there.

“It’s really tight and there’s still a possibility than we can be where we want to be, but we’re making life difficult after a really good run. Two defeats on the spin is not something we thought would happen, but it has, and now we have got to pick ourselves up and get a result on Saturday.”