Derek Toasts His Pilgrims

However, that does not prevent the Argyle manager from having a glass that is always at least half-full.

His brightness in the build-up to Sky Bet League Two leaders Argyle’s visit to Morecambe contrasted to a black gloom that has descended on to some of the Green Army after successive home defeats by Grimsby Town and Barnet.

He said: “The other way you can look it is: it’s 12 wins out of 18; it’s 38 points in the league; it’s a team that’s top of the league; we had the second-best goalscorers for in the league before last Saturday’s game. 

“It’s all about how you interpret things. Some people will interpret them the way they want to for their own good. That’s what happens in life.

“I know where this football club is; we know where we are as a football team. We are punching above our weight in this division – that’s just the nature of what we do, season on season. That makes it even better that the squad this year has put in such a fantastic start to the season.

“To sit on the top of the league with 38 points after 18 games...at the start of the season, we would have said: ‘Thank you very much’. To have a points gap between ourselves and second place, a points gap between ourselves and fourth position – some people would have thought we were off our heads, if we’d said that at the start of the season.

“I don’t think that anybody’s criticising us. That would be very foolish. If you look the club’s record over the last two years, it has been very good. We’ve got a win-ratio of over 50%. Anybody looking at that would be astounded how well we have done with the squad we have, who have done really well.”

The Pilgrims make the trip to the Fylde coast on Saturday again without forward Jimmy Spencer, who recently suffered a broken and dislocated ankle; midfielder David Ijaha, who has a groin problem; and defender Ben Purrrington, as well as long-term injured Ryan Brunt and Gary Sawyer.

“He’s still got a soreness in the hamstring area,” said Derek, of Ben. “He is sore but there isn’t any bruising as yet.

“Jimmy’s been put in a plaster and has to go back in another week to see the consultant and find out if he has to have an operation or not.”

Oscar Threlked looks set to deputise for Ben again, while Derek’s options for the lone attacking role often occupied by Jimmy include David Goodwillie and Arnold Garita. Whoever gets the nod, the Argyle manager is backing his players to bounce back at the end of a difficult week.

Derek said: “You are going to lose games throughout the season – that’s natural – and it is how you come back from that. We have shown already this season, when we have been defeated, that we can go on very good runs.

“The habit was that we went 14 games unbeaten and, in that period of time, we had 12 wins. We have had 12 wins from 18 games this season – that is better than anyone else in the division, by a few games, and that tells you how well we have done.”