Just Another Saturday
ARGYLE manager Derek Adams accepts that, for the supporters, travelling to a venue such as the Stadium of Light in Sky Bet League One is a big occasion, but for him, it is just another Saturday.
Despite Sunderland having acquired three points less than us over the last eight league games, they are unbeaten at home, and that is a record that Derek is hopeful of breaking.
“They [the fans] are obviously looking forward to going to the Stadium of Light and seeing their team play,” said Derek. “There is a factor in that they haven’t been up there for a number of years and want to go and witness Plymouth Argyle playing at a different venue.
“We always enjoy trying to break records and we have done it many times in the past. We will look to try and do that on Saturday. It’s another opportunity for us to try and get three points.
“Going away from home, we have obviously done well and picked up some good points against Bradford and Peterborough. With the form that we are on, we are looking forward to going there and playing, and trying to get another result.”
While Sunderland are well below where they should be in the football pyramid, Derek would rather focus on the good things that his side are currently doing, and would like that trend to continue.
“I’m not going to dwell too much on Sunderland,” he said. “It’s important that we look at how well we’ve played in recent times.
“We are one of the form sides in the league and I think that is testament to the players and how well they have responded. The amount of opportunities that we have created in games, like last week against Rochdale where we won 5-1, we have got the confidence that we can go and score goals.
“We have shown this season that we can go away from home at the likes of Peterborough, in the top six, and beat them. It is going to be important that we go there with the confidence we are showing at the moment and take the game to Sunderland.”
Clearly, this is Argyle’s longest away day of the season, over 400 miles of road await the travelling party, and the manager explained he has had to adjust his preparations ahead of the trip
“We will just leave earlier than we usually do and will go for a walk when we arrive in Sunderland, whatever time that may be,” he said. “We will treat it as we usually do for an away game, we have obviously not been able to train on the Friday because of the eight or nine-hour coach trip.”