The Road is Calling

ARGYLE goalkeeper Luke McCormick is happy that the Pilgrims are again on their travels after Tuesday’s travails.

Derek Adams’s side visit Mansfield Town on Saturday, eager to bounce back from a midweek defeat by Blackpool at Home Park, not because the play-off hunting Stags will be easy game but because Argyle have an excellent away record this season. 

They have already won ten times in the league – a number bettered only three times in the club’s history - as well as drawing and keeping a clean sheet at Liverpool in the Emirates FA Cup.

“It might be nice to get back on the road,” said Luke. “We have done very well away from home – we have got one of the best away records in the league – so we can go with confidence that we are good on the road and look forward to a very big game. Mansfield have got plenty to play for, so it’s going to be a very good encounter.

“We quite enjoy it when teams come and have ago at us. We have got plenty of pace, plenty of creativity, in the side so, at times when we have been on our travels this season, we have been able to soak up a bit of pressure and counter-attack. It seems to bring out the best of us.

“We’re good on our travels, as we’ve proven, and we’ll be going there positive and wanting to take all three points.”

The Pilgrims, who have an excellent head-to-head record against teams in the top seven this season, have already won at the One Call Stadium this season, knocking Mansfield out of the FA Cup in November. Since then, the Stags have changed manager – from Adam Murray to Steve Evans – and taken on board plenty of new players. 

Luke said:“We have done ever so well against teams higher up in the league – we know we could have done better against some of the teams from mid-table downwards – but we go up against a team on Saturday doing their utmost to get into the play-offs. It’s a huge game for them, so there’s a lot riding on the tie for both sides.

“Mansfield is a very, very hard place to go to. We have already been there once this season; that is something else we can gain confidence from. We have the ability to win games of football and we can do that better than 22 teams in this league, up to this point.

“We’ll take confidence, again, from our away form and we’ll look forward to getting stuck into the game. We are familiar with the surroundings and we had a good result there in the cup, but obviously we are aware that they have changed manager and there will be different personnel on the pitch for them this time round. 

“With a lot on it for both sides, it will be a completely different fixture.”