Sonny's Delight

“Today was the best feeling I’ve had in football, by far,” said the Argyle centre-back, after his first goal since moving to Home Park in the summer.

“It was a crappy game but we dug in and I think we got what we deserved. I’m really happy.”

The Pilgrims defender, 25 in a week’s time, headed home Oscar Threlkeld’s right-wing cross in the second of three minutes’ added time to give Derek Adams’ men a fifth successive win. 

Three of their last five Sky Bet League Two goals have been now been scored by defenders, with Sonny’s central defensive partner Nauris Bulvitis having claimed the other two as well as notching in a 4-1 Checkatrade Trophy victory over Newport.  

“I’ve got some catching up to do,” said Sonny. “No, I don’t mind. If that had been Bully who had scored today, I’d be just as happy. It’s all about the three points. I was delighted for Bully last week at Blackpool.

“If we can be in the right places, we can certainly get good balls in – we’ve got Graham [Carey]; Oscar; Gary [Miller], when he plays; Ben [Purrington] who put great ball into the box. We have got them to thank, but you have got to be in the right place at the right time.

“I think I could have scored in the first half, to be honest. I had a header at the back stick but I couldn’t get my full forehead on it and flicked it wide. I made up for it in the last minute.”

The goal completed a second-half turnaround for Argyle, who struggled for the first 45 minutes in the face of a wind and rain against a disciplined Cheltenham side.

“I think we can improve as a team, there is no doubt about that,” said Sonny. “We have played better this season – but conditions were terrible and they are a good team, so it was a tough-fought three points and we were delighted in the end.

“I was warming up and looking at the pitch, and it was coming down heavy. I was thinking: ‘This has got a chance of getting called off’. In the first half, it was dreadful. I think I kicked about four balls over the stand. It wasn’t pretty. We didn’t want to overplay in the first half; if you overplay, you can get caught out.

“The fans might have thought: ‘We’re playing Cheltenham; they were in the Conference last year; we should steamroller them.’ But that’s not how it works. They have got a great manager and we knew they were going to be well-organised and well drilled, and they showed they could handle it physically. 

“The gaffer reminded us that the weather was going to play a big part and we had to play the conditions well. It calmed down in the second half and we got a chance to get the ball down, and the gaffer made a couple of changes that suited us against the opposition. We moved the ball better, created more chances and won the game.”