Growing Impact
GREEN thoughts are now entirely on the challenge of Cambridge United at the Abbey Stadium on Saturday in Sky Bet League Two and another exciting step under the Pilgrim management team.
The Pilgrims battled to an entertaining 1-1 draw at Bristol Rovers last weekend and will welcome the Pirates back to Home Park for a replay on December 17.
In general, the form has been really positive over the past few weeks and a feeling that the new coaching regime is beginning to have the right impact on the players.
“The lads have been great in putting that game [Rovers] to bed and focussing on Cambridge, so the mood in the camp is good,” said Argyle assistant manager Steven Schumacher.
“We feel like we’re in a good place at the moment and we’re getting better with each game. It took a bit of time but we were under no illusions about that.
“We knew we couldn’t be right at it from minute one but the players are improving, they’re understanding the messages a bit more and the performances are showing.
“It’s important we don’t just rest now and think we’re ok because we’re playing well. We’ve got to keep going every single day in training, giving the same information, getting better at it and tweaking the finer details.
“It [Bristol Rovers] was exciting at the end, we were disappointed not to get through at the first tine of asking but it was a good game, and two good sides went at it.
“It was entertaining for the fans to watch and we were in the hat for the draw on Monday, which is what we wanted. We played well, created a few good chances, as did Bristol Rovers, and a hard-fought FA Cup tie.”
After falling behind to a Liam Sercombe goal on 74 minutes, Antoni Sarcevic levelled from the penalty spot but missed the chance to win the game in the dying seconds, when a second spot-kick was saved by the legs of the Rovers’ custodian.
“You’ve got to show character to get up and take a penalty in the first place,” said Schuey. “He [Sarce] was gutted after the game, as anyone would be, but he came back in for training and all forgotten about.
“He’s a good penalty-taker, he strikes them well and practises them in training. I could see what he was trying to do with the second one and I probably would have done the same, gone straight down the middle, but he didn’t quite get it off the floor enough.”