Handling Up

...but Luke McCormick was there to put them right.

“It’s not the end of the world,” said the Argyle custodian, after Jack Marriott had given Luton Town a 1-0 win at Home Park, a defeat which saw Bristol Rovers overtake Argyle on goal difference.

With the season rapidly reaching its May 7 conclusion – and Argyle facing an Easter double-header at Morecambe and at home to York – Luke knows the importance of focusing on the tasks ahead, rather than dwelling on what cannot be changed.

“You looked at it before the game and thought that the next three games were a fantastic opportunity to chalk up a few points,” he said. “This one’s gone now. I’m sure we’ll talk about it and take whatever positives we can out of it, and then it’s on to the next two games. 

“Every one is the biggest game of the season and I’m sure it will continue like that until the very last one against Hartlepool.

“We’ve got nine [games] to go. We’ve said, for quite a while now: ‘It’s up to us’. We can’t count on teams around us to do us any favours – that’s not necessarily going to happen – so we have just got to completely focus on what we do, keep doing the things that have brought us joy all season.

“We haven’t done anything differently; we haven’t changed anything. We have just got to keep pushing and keep driving on; keep believing that, come May 7, it will be enough to carry us through.

“It’s not for the lack of trying; we are working day in, day out, on the training-ground on the same things.”

Argyle had nearly three times as many attacks as Luton, who fashioned the only one that mattered midway through the first half.

Luke said: “It seems to be the way it’s going for us at the moment: plenty of possession; we looked comfortable; Luton didn’t cause us any problems; and it was a bit of a scruffy goal on our part. 

“The lad’s got in and he’s sort of scuffed it down by my side. I couldn’t get my leg out quick enough to kick it away and it’s squirmed in at the near post. 

“Then you have got an uphill task; Luton sit in and you enjoy large spells of possession but we just can’t catch a break at the minute. We have just got to keep knuckling down, working away, and just believe that something will drop for us.

“Getting the first goal in this league seems to be absolutely imperative; it’s so important. I thought we still went about the job in a positive manner, despite being 1-0 down; we still looked to try to create. It just makes everything that much more difficult.

“That’s the way it is. We’ll go away from home and we’ll get a goal up and we’ll sit in and defend it and ask questions of the home team to come and break us down. It’s the nature of the game. That’s how important the first goal is.”