More Than Jake

JAKE Jervis continued his prolific start at Argyle by netting the winner in a 2-1 victory over Barnet, and Derek Adams believes his early success is certainly no fluke.

After Graham Carey got the Greens back on level terms with a 53rd-minute screamer, Jervis took his goal tally to seven for the season, coming in from the right flank to turn home Gregg Wylde’s cross on the hour-mark.

Despite playing in a wider position, Jervis is the Pilgrims’ top scorer so far in this campaign, thanks to mixture of his own ability, and diligent work on the training ground. 

“When you come in on the blind-side of defenders,” said Derek, “there’s nothing you can do as a defender. If you can dart in from the side, it’s intelligent play. 

“We work on it; we try to get our wide players coming in. He’s scored a lot of goals this season from there, and [Jervis] has been a big player for us this season. 

“We’ve got players in our team that can open up defences, we’ve got creativity, and we’ve got match-winners. They’ve been able to show that tonight. 

“I’m delighted that they’ve come in and hit the ground running, the two of them, but I’m delighted for the whole team, because we need a team effort.”

The strikes from Jervis and Carey secured the first come-from-behind victory in a league game for over two-and-a-half years, after the first half saw Aaron McLean open the scoring for the Bees. 

“In the first half we obviously dominated possession,” said Adams, “and the amount of chances we had on goal was a lot. 

“They didn’t really trouble us – they got a break with the goal. We were out of position, but other than that, they didn’t really trouble us in the first half. We were in total command.

“We opened up their defence time and time again, especially in the first half when we played on the counter attack. We had a whole load of chances and balls across the area. We controlled the first half without getting that goal. 

“We probably didn’t pick the right pass at times, but overall we’re happy to win the game.” 

Adams and the team will look to carry the momentum gathered by the win into their next game, at home to Crawley Town on Saturday – but not before keeping close tabs on the condition of Carey and Gary Sawyer, who picked up slight injuries during the game. 

“It’s two knocks, so we’ll assess them tomorrow and see how they are,” said Derek.

“Gary Sawyer’s played the whole game, and Graham Carey came off with about ten minutes to go, so we’ll assess them both before Saturday.”