Chance Missed
ARGYLE manager Derek Adams believes the Pilgrims could have all but ensured Sky Bet League One safety in the last week.
Instead, he has been left as exasperated as everyone else by injury-time goals scored by opponents in successive games that have cost Argyle two victories.
On Saturday, Blackpool repeated the dose given to the Pilgrims seven days earlier at home to Bristol Rovers, scoring in the last minute to earn a 2-2 draw.
Curtis Tilt undermined a fine Argyle performance with the late leveller after Argyle had led 2-0 through Freddie Ladapo and Ryan Edwards until the 84th-minute, when Marc Bola pulled a goal back for Blackpool.
The draw left the Pilgrims on 47 points, a further point ahead of the division’s relegation zone in a highly congested bottom half of the table than at the start of the day, with six matches of the season to play.
Derek said: “If we had taken the four points from the last two games, we would have put ourselves in a fantastic position.
“We would have been in 12th position; we’re still in 14th position; we have opened up a five-point gap between ourselves and the relegation zone. Other results have gone with us.
“It’s a tough old league and we’ve shown that we’ve got the quality to compete in this division.
“Before the game, everyone would have said ‘Come to Blackpool, take a point, go home’ – we would have done that, but to be 2-0 up with not so long to go…we have every right to say that we should have had the three points.
“It was a very good game from us today. We played ever so well.
“We started the game in top form, played a ball in behind, Ruben Lameiras got on the end of it and squared it for Freddie. It was a perfect start for us.
“We knew we would cause Blackpool problems and that’s what we did. We got that goal ahead and there was nothing much in the first half from Blackpool; it was mostly Argyle who played on the front foot.
“The second half was a different game from the first half but we get a goal, a great finish – again – from Eddy, a great ball into the box from Graham Carey, and it looked like we could make it three or four: Jamie Ness has a great opportunity; the goalkeeper makes a wonder save from Carey and, even at 2-2, Niall Canavan could have got a goal at the end. Antoni Sarcevic, as well, a shot.
“Overall, we were better than Blackpool.”
Even when Bola scored, such was Argyle’s control of affairs that it did not appear to be more than a consolation but Tilt restored the balance of the game with the injury-time leveller.
Derek said: “The ball got knocked out of the box at 2-0 for us, the player on the edge of the box takes a hit at it and it goes in the bottom corner.
“Then, [Blackpool] throw another ball into the box, it gets headed up, and Tilt decides to do an overhead kick and it goes into the back of the net. There’s not a lot you can do when that happens.
“Could we have defended better? Yes, we could have but somebody takes an overhead kick, and [someone] has a slap at the ball and it goes in the bottom corner – sometimes you just can’t deal with that.
“I don’t mind if a team passes the ball five times, plays through us and scores a great goal. We could say that the second goal is a great goal because Tilt’s thrown himself at it to get the overhead kick, but the first one, I don’t think is a great goal.
“I do not believe they were putting us under immense pressure. We were containing them very well. We’ve taken a point; we should have taken three points."