Don Be Fooled

The Pilgrims host AFC Wimbledon at Home Park on Saturday, April 9 in their latest Sky Bet League 2 fixture – just six from the end of the season. 

Argyle have faced the Dons on ten occasions in the club’s history – winning three, drawing four and losing three. 

The silent truth hidden within those stats, though, is that Argyle are yet to beat Wimbledon at Home Park. Six visits to the Cherry Red Records Stadium have yielded three draws and three victories – two of them coming earlier this season. 

A 2-0 win for Argyle in the first game of the season was followed by a come-from-behind 3-2 victory on a return visit in the Johnstone’s Paint Trophy just a few weeks later, as once again the Pilgrims were made to feel at home in South West London. 

At their own place, though, results have been harder to come by. A solitary point, coming from a 1-1 draw at Home Park last season, has been the yield from four games played between the sides in Devon. 

None of those games at the Theatre of Greens came under the stewardship of the current boss, though, and Derek is not perturbed by what has gone before. 

“I don’t believe in bogey teams,” he said. “It’s been shown over the years that there are clubs that struggle against certain teams and then it takes turns. 

“I think that we have been to places this season where we hadn’t won before. These statistics are there to be broken.”

Midfielder Carl McHugh agrees with his manager. “It’s completely different from season to season,” said Carl. “It’s a different group of players, different staff and different scenarios.”

Derek, as one might expect, prefers to focus on his own, perfect record against Wimbledon. 

“First game of the season was a good occasion,” he said. “They were good goals; overall it was a very good team performance and it’s always nice to start the season well. 

“It was a hot summer’s day and a very good performance from us. We played very well on the day and we got the first victory of the season.

“[It was] a very long time ago but it doesn’t feel a long time ago. We’ve gone really well this season and I’m delighted with the position that we are in.”

Wimbledon are currently 10th in Sky Bet League 2, two points away from the last play-off position with a game in hand. With Argyle in fourth position among a tightly-packed group gunning for automatic promotion, it is a game with much on the line. 

“They’ve changed their formation a few times this season,” said Derek. “They started against us 3-4-3; they’ve played 4-4-2; they’ve played 4-3-3. They have changed it about a wee bit this season but they have roughly the same personnel that they had at the start of the season.

“We’ve got to do the business ourselves. If we do that then we’ll be fine. We have to look after ourselves. We can’t look at anybody else to do us any favours.”