Keeping in Check

Young apprentice Jordan was sent off by referee Brendan Malone just before half-time on his senior Pilgrims debut, following two yellow-card offences. 

The Swans were already 2-0 to the good against a much-changed Argyle side, thanks to goals from Daniel James and Oli McBurnie, making the second-half an even harder task for the disadvantaged Pilgrims. However, they stuck to their guns and there were no more goals in the game.

It was the second time in less than two weeks that Jordan had been dismissed for two cautionable offences in a 2-0 defeat, following his sending off in a Carlsberg South West Peninsula League Premier Division game against Tavistock.

Derek said: “He’s now got two suspensions on him because he got sent off in a Peninsula game, so he has got to cut that out of his game.

“[Swansea] scored two goals quite quickly; then we had the sending-off and it became a very difficult night.

“It was a game we were going to get players some game-time who hadn’t had an opportunity. Then we lose a man and it becomes difficult because you can’t open up after that – you have to bide your time.

“We had chances, in the first and second half, to score goals from set-plays, but it was not easy to try to come out and play because [Swansea] have got some good players.

“The two goals came in off our right-hand side. It was good play from their point of view; we could have defended it a lot better.”

With Jordan, who had lined up at right-back in place of the injured Gary Miller, off the field and left-back Ben Purrington following soon after, the Pilgrims were forced into something of a patchwork defence.

“Gary had a back spasm,” said Derek. “[Ben] had a dead leg. I noticed he was limping about, so I took him off as quickly as possible. We ended up playing with Sonny Bradley at left-back and Ryan Donaldson at right-back. It was a difficult night for us.”

The reshuffled back-four also saw a long-awaited first-team debut for centre-back Karleigh Osborne after a thigh injury delayed his Pilgrims bow following a summer move from Bristol City.

“It was good that Karleigh got a run-out,” said Derek. “I didn’t want to start him. He’s been out for a long time and I wanted to give him half an hour; I gave him 40 minutes, which was good for him.”