One Thing Lacking

A LACK of ruthlessness in front of goal is what Argyle manager Derek Adams saw as his side's only downfall in their 1-0 loss to Luton Town.

The Hatters took all three points from their visit to Home Park, courtesy of a close-range effort from Jack Marriott after 27 minutes. Adams' side pushed heavily from that moment on for an equaliser, but drew a blank for a fourth time in 2016.

"We played well for large spells; we controlled the game; but we didn't have that cutting edge," said Derek.

"I think we had 66 attacks to their 23 today. From that point of view, we had more than double their attacks on goal; we just haven't been able to get the break. That's nothing to do with any team being better than us - they weren't better than us today. It was plainly obvious that we were the better side, but we weren't able to score that goal.

"Today we didn't deserve to lose the match, but we have done because we haven't been able to put the ball in the back of the net."

The boss was nevertheless satisfied with the performance levels of his side, who were in control of much of the game, but fell victim to conceding the first goal and being unable to break down a resolute Hatters side.

"I thought we played very well today," said Adams. "I thought that our performance was of a good standard, and I'm disappointed to come away with a 1-0 loss.

"I thought that the amount of possession we had, the amount of attacks we had - we merited a goal today, but we didn't get the goal our play deserved. I thought in the first half we had good control of the match, and in the second half as well.

"From our point of view, performance-wise today I thought the way we handled the pressure was very good. The way we controlled large spells in the game, the way we passed the ball, it really told you that they didn't look under pressure.

"I think we're all disappointed that we haven't won today. We limited Luton to few opportunities on the day. We didn't do enough with a cutting edge to get the goal that our play deserved."

The result sees Argyle drop out of the automatic promotion places for the first time since September, but only on goal difference, and Derek is intent on looking up and forward, rather than back and behind.

"It leaves us trying to catch the teams above us," said Adams, "and from our point of view, we feel today that performance-wise, it was a lot better than last week.

"We've got nine games to go, and we've known all along how many games we've got to go. We've failed to pick up the points I think that we probably deserved. But from our point of view we've got nine games to keep on pushing ahead. We're in a very good position and want to keep going forward."