Derek's Ton Up

...looking for his Pilgrims to put their name in the club’s record-books against Wycombe Wanderers.

Argyle’s superb 2-0 win at Mansfield on Saturday was their 11th away win of the season – one shy of the 12 that Derek achieved with his squad last season and a total that had previously been reached only twice before the Pilgrims’ long history.

It is a remarkable record and one that, with six of Argyle’s final ten Sky Bet League Two games to be played away from Home Park, should warm Pilgrim hearts. 

Derek said: “It is a very hard league to predict – we have seen that ourselves – but we have gone away from home and won 11 games this season and I think that is important to realise how we can do on the road.

“During my time here, we have won 23 out of 40 and we have to be at it on Tuesday night because Wycombe are a very good side.”

If the Pilgrims are to continue their decent away form, they will have to keep out a Wycombe side that sits three points outside of the play-off zone and who are unbeaten in three matches. 

They will also have to contend with a familiar thorn in their side, Chairboys’ beast of a forward. Ten-goal Adebayo Akinfenwa has scored against Argyle the last three times he has faced them, including a 59th-minute close-range finish in Boxing Day’s  reverse fixture at Home Park, which ended 3-3.

Derek said: “Wycombe are a side that try passing it at times and, yes, they try getting the ball to Akinfenwa as quickly as possible, because who wouldn’t?

“He has played a lot of minutes and he has done well for Wycombe this season. He is a powerful player and there is a way of playing against him and we have to get that right.

“We have to deal with him. I think, over time, we haven’t dealt with him well enough and we will have to do that.”

Derek is not the only Pilgrim who will experience a landmark occasion on Tuesday: goalkeeper Luke McCormick will enter the top 20 of all-time appearances for the club when he leads the side out.

Derek said: “He is the captain of the team; he is vocal; and he is good with the players in the dressing-room. It is important that your team captain pulls everybody together.

“It is an important game for us. We have got 10 games to go where we have got to try and pick up as many wins as we possibly can from here on in.

“The two clubs have been in the division a number of years now and they have come up against each other in the play-offs and league encounters. They are always entertaining games. It was earlier on in the season in a 3-3 draw and I don’t see the game being any different.

“We felt we played really well that day and we should have gone on to win the game but unfortunately we had a lapse of concentration towards the end and we lost the goal.”