Faithfulness

FAITH has driven Jamie Ness’s season. Faith in his ability to overcome injury; faith in the talents of his team-mates.

The Argyle midfielder’s own season has run parallel to that of the Pilgrims: a horrible first half in which he suffered a calf problems and the team, despite playing well, could not win; a scintillating second half which has seen Derek Adams’ side zoom up the Sky Bet League One table with a string of performances to which Jamie has contributed a full part. 

“We’ve always had faith that we’re a good team with good players,” said Jamie, on the eve of Bradford City’s visit to Home Park. 

“We were putting in the hard work earlier in the season and weren’t getting rewarded for it. Confidence went with that, as well.

“We’ve stuck at it. We’ve kept doing what we have been doing, kept working hard, and we’re getting the results from it now. 

“It was really frustrating for me, the first half of the season – we weren’t picking up points and being injured. 

“I managed to do a lot of work over that time and make sure I was ready to come back into the team. I’m feeling the benefits of it now and I think we’re all playing with confidence now and can’t wait for the games to come around." 

The Pilgrims’ run-in sees them occupy seventh place in the division going into the last dozen matches of the campaign, with the end-of-season play-offs very much a realistic ambition. 

Bradford, who are one position lower than Argyle, are one of several opponents that the Pilgrims will face between now and May 5 that have similar aspirations. 

Jamie said: “In the last 12 games, we are playing a lot of the teams that are round about us, so it should be an interesting finish to the season. 

“We knew it would come down to this. When you see the fixtures, we have got the likes of Bradford, Charlton, Scunthorpe, all in the run-in, and if we can keep going the way we have been going, we are confident we can push forward. 

“We are looking to continue in the same vein of form we have been in and keep carrying on with the wins.” 

Those victories have come about with pleasing regularity since the return from injury of central striker Ryan Taylor, who has scored three goals and played a part in many more, including several for the midfield trio of Jamie, Antoni Sarcevic and David Fox.

“Ryan has been brilliant for us recently, holding the ball up,” said Jamie. “We can kind of gamble a little bit more because you know, when it goes up to him, it is going to stick. 

“So, me and Sarce have been trying to weigh in with goals – Foxy as well – so there’s a little bit of competition going on at the moment. 

“I’d like to add a couple more before the end of the season.”