The Team Needed That

“THE team needed that win.”

You could almost hear the well-earned relief in Argyle defender Josh Grant’s assessment of the Pilgrims’ Emirates FA Cup first-round giantklling at Bolton, their first away win against Wanderers for more than 50 years.

The 1-0 win over the Trotters, achieved through a fine team performance and topped by Callum McFadzean’s 11th-minute goal, laid to rest the mother of all blips in the Devon Expressway Derby at Exeter City two weeks previously.

If that Sky Bet League Two defeat had hurt the Green Army, it had well and truly smarted inside the Home Park dressing-room, too, a nagging pain made worse by the postponement of the subsequent league encounter with Grimsby Town.

“We weren’t at our best,” said Josh, 21. “All we can do is get to the next game and put it right. That’s what we did and that’s what we want to keep on doing. We don’t want to be an inconsistent team; we want to find that consistency and keep going.

“It was a massive win. Obviously last week’s game got cancelled and we were chomping at the bit to play that game.

“We have been preparing all week really hard, working hard together, There is a good vibe around the camp, even though we lost the last game. We wanted to keep playing. We wanted to win, and we showed that today.

“Even though we were upset and couldn’t play and put [the Exeter defeat] right, we had to do it today. We had two weeks’ preparation, really, and we were ready to go, raring to go.

“We conceded four goals against Exeter, which was not great, but we know we’re a good team; if we keep goals out of our end, we will score. That’s what we’ve done. We worked hard for it.

“The team needed that win; it was a good game and it was one that we fought for. That’s what we need to keep showing. We kicked on and we got the result to go through to the next round.”

Game-winner Fadz has now scored more goals since joining the Pilgrims in the summer than he has done in the rest of his career, and Josh said: “This team is going to need goals from left, right and centre. I don’t think it’s just relying on strikers – we are all going to chip in.

“He’s done it today.”