Joel Scorer

WE asked our man Aaron Richards to keep a close eye on Joel Grant for Argyle's home game against Rochdale. This is what he saw...

THERE is an old saying that when attacking players get off the mark their second goal is not too far away.

After Joel Grant opened his goal scoring account for the Pilgrims with a goal at AFC Wimbledon, he may not have expected to score his second quite so quickly against Rochdale. Following his winning effort at the Dons, it was only 43 seconds into Argyle’s home match against the Dale when Joel headed home.

It came from the same source; the creative force that is Graham Carey. Whereas at Wimbledon Carey’s assist for Joel was a flick between the defence, this time it was from a cross down the right where Joel found himself at the back post for a cool headed finish. The goal seemed to give Joel that little spark for the rest of the game.

He and Carey on the wings terrorised Dale’s full backs, with both being involved in almost every dangerous Argyle attack.

Grant, full of confidence, on multiple occasions showed a bit of flair and trickery to get past his man by cutting inside or beating him for pace down the line. He had a great chance in the 41st minute when a superb through ball by Yann Songo’o found him, but he could only hit it straight at the onrushing Dale keeper.

Joel impressed even more in the second half before he went off in the 68th minute. In the first 20 minutes Argyle pinned Rochdale into their own half but unfortunately to no avail. Almost all of Argyle’s pressure came down the left hand side with Grant and left-back Aaron Taylor-Sinclair linking up well.

Saturday’s performance was a glimmer of what Joel Grant has done in his career and why Derek Adams brought him to Home Park.

Here’s to three in three…