Seven Up

...and Argyle duly delivered on their manager’s promise with a stunning 2-0 win at Shrewsbury Town on the final day of the Sky Bet League 2 season.

Job done? Not a bit of it. They now face Wycombe Wanderers in a two-leg play-off semi-final, with a Wembley date against either Southend United or Stevenage awaiting the winners – and promotion the ultimate prize.

“Now we’re there, I want a bit more and I’ve told the players,” said the Pilgrims’ manager, after first-half goals from Bobby Reid and Kelvin Mellor gatecrashed already-promoted Shrewsbury’s celebrations. “I can feel it – they want a bit more.

“On our day, we’re as good as any team in the league; anyone who’s watched us today will think ‘What a good team Plymouth are’. I try to set standards and the most important thing in this league is your consistency. That’s the biggest problem I find with us – lack of consistency is probably why we are in the play-offs and not automatic promotion.”

The first leg of the semi-final is at Home Park next Saturday, May 9, with the second leg at Adams Park on Thursday, May 14. Both games kick off at 7.45pm.

Argyle go into the post-season having become only the second team to beat Shrewsbury on their own patch this season.

“We had to finish a job off,” said John. “We were confident we could do it but I thought the way we went about our game will hopefully give us the confidence to go into the two games.

“We have got as good a chance as anyone and that is the way we are going to prepare – believing that we can get up.”

“We will prepare properly in our week for what’s going to be a good atmosphere, a full house. We’re at home first, so we’d like to go into the game and try to get an advantage, but the main thing is you keep yourself in it for the second leg.

“Wycombe are a good strong team; they have had an excellent season; and now they will want to finish it off by getting out of this league, like us.”