Big, Bigger, Biggest

Having beaten the Sky Bet League Two leaders in their own backyard last Sunday, Argyle return to Home Park, with promotion in their sights, to play mid-table Stanley.

Lest his players or the Green Army feel that entertaining the Lancastrians at home will present less of a problem than playing away to Doncaster, who had previously been unbeaten at the Keepmoat Stadium for a whole year, Derek issued a warning.

“We’ve got an extremely difficult game,” he said. “Accrington have gone 11 games unbeaten; they played really well the other night against Cambridge; and they’ve got a team that’s high in confidence.

“So this will probably be a more difficult game for us than Doncaster, and I think that Doncaster was a difficult game.”

Like Argyle, Accrington reached the play-offs last season and lost to AFC Wimbledon, after finishing fourth in the division. They appeared to suffer a hangover from the semi-final defeat which lasted into the early part of this season, but are now fully recovered to the extent that they have moved from relegation candidates to potential play-off participants again. 

Derek said: “They have been able to put a good run together and they have a system of play, now, that suits them, and we know they are back to playing the way they were last season.

“They play on the counter attack; they’ve got some technically some very good players and we will have to be careful of that.”

With seven games of the season to play, Saturday’s encounter is one of just three remaining at Home Park for Argyle, who are three points behind Doncaster and 13 clear of their nearest challengers in the four play-off spots.

Derek knows how important it is make the home games count and wants the Green Army to replicate the terrific support they gave to the team during the previous Home Park victory over Morecambe.

He said: “The thing about what they did that day was that they knew how big a game it was. They understood what we are trying to do and they understood what players were trying to do, and we worked together as a unit.

“That’s important. As a football club, we’ve all got to go in the right direction, and the right direction is where we what to get automatically promoted.

“We’ve got a home crowd that can be very impatient at times and that puts pressure on the players. That’s not the right way to be; it’s about trying to finish the campaign in a strong mind.

“For a number of years now, they’ve had disappointments and we want give them huge high. We’ve got seven games to do that.”