Positional Sense

A SUBTLE change of positioning of players from Derek Adams played a key role in Argyle turning the tide and emerging 2-1 winners against Crewe Alexandra.

The Greens headed into the second half at Alexandra Stadium looking to solve yet another tricky conundrum this season. After going 1-0 down to an Alex Kiwomya strike and avoiding going 2-0 down thanks to a penalty save from Luke McCormick, Craig Tanner brought Argyle level just before the break with a curling effort.

There was still room for improvement in terms of Argyle's attacking threat, though, and Adams' decision to move Graham Carey to the left wing proved to be inspired. The switch got the Greens higher up the pitch and created plenty of opportunities.

"We just changed things at half time," said Adams. "We moved Graham out to the wider left area. I just felt that we were going to get joy down that side.

"We moved Jordan [Slew] to the other side and played Tanner off the front. It worked well, because we got closer to Jimmy [Spencer] up front. We held the ball up well and we were able to dictate spells in the game in the second half."

Carey often found room and beat players on the left flank after the break, and it provided the solution in the 74th minute. After being found by a fantastic ball from Spencer, Jake Jervis galloped down the right wing and crossed to find an unmarked Carey, who calmly placed in the winner.

"I thought we were going to get opportunities down that side," said Adams. "In the first half, Jordan was, but obviously he's coming in on his right foot.

"I thought we could get outside on his [Carey's] left foot, and there was numerous times in the second half that Graham did get in.

"Jake put in a terrific ball - Jake has got terrific legs running forward. He put a great ball in, Tanner went over it, and a good finish from Graham at the back post."