Open Challenge

The Greens opposition for this weekend’s fixture bring a mixed bag to the table: they are the side to have scored the most goals this season so far, but have also conceded the second most. 

Their gung-ho, attack-minded style of play has proved to have worked out well for them up to this point, taking them to eighth in the table. On the other hand, league leaders Argyle have the best defensive record in the league so will look to use what they’ve done so well so far to their advantage.

“They play open, expansive football and try and score goals but that leaves spaces on the other side," said Derek. “They’re sitting nice in the table, they’ve collected a good number of points and they probably feel they’ve got the players in the team to score goals.

“We’ve shown in games that we can defend well and we can score goals. We can counter attack teams very well. We’ve got players in the team that are very creative and can cause the other team problems.”

Adams is not expecting anything too different from Morecambe to what he has witnessed against anyone else he has come up against so far though. The manager says his side's approach to the game will be no different to any other.

“They’re a team that is a bit mixed," he said. "They‘ve got players in the team that have stature, they’ve got creativity as well but I don’t see them doing too much different from the other teams that we have played against.

“We’ll have to defend well and then we’ll have to counter attack. We need to keep possession of the ball and score goals. They [Morecambe] start at a quick pace and we’ll have to deal with that and put the onus of the game back onto them.”

The Greens will go into the game on Saturday without Reuben Reid, while Derek is hopeful of having centre-back and vice-captain Peter Hartley available for selection after leaving the field early against Luton with a hamstring strain.

“[Reuben} is out and we’ll keep hoping that we can get him back sooner rather than later," said Derek.

"Peter will train today (Thursday), he’s been recovering well from last Saturday so we’ll assess him today and tomorrow and see how he’s feeling for Saturday.”