Turning Performances Into Points
ARGYLE manager Ryan Lowe is hoping to combine hard work and a smattering of luck to get his Pilgrims climbing up the Sky Bet League Two table with a run of victories.
The Pilgrims welcome third-placed Cheltenham Town to Home Park today after coming within five minutes of a valuable 2-1 win at Crawley in midweek, when the hosts pinched a point following a challenge from Callum McFadzean on Town striker Reece Grego-Cox.
While it was disappointing not to come away with the three points our performance deserved, the dominant spells enjoyed by the boys in Green gives the gaffer plenty of belief for the future.
“We could possibly do with a little bit of luck here and there,” he said. “If the lad [Grego-Cox] doesn’t tangle his legs with Fadz’s feet, then it’s not a penalty,
“We could do with being a bit clever, but as long as we keep creating chances and playing the football that we are, then nine times out of ten you’re going to put the ball in the back of the net.
“We don’t want to be too disrespectful to Crawley but you’ve seen what we’re about, we’re on top in most games with our possession stats and everything that comes with it, the shots on target, which was 14 or 15 shots, so you get two good goals and possibly should have more. The way we play through the thirds, we pass the ball well and, when we do that, we look a good team.”
It is, however, a long road of challenges to overcome before becoming the excellent team Ryan has planned for Argyle and it will be a case of ramping through the gears.
Cheltenham have shown what a run of form can do for your league position, jumping to third with three successive wins, and the Pilgrims are naturally keen to begin their own sequence at Home Park this afternoon.
“I’ve said to the boys, we’re an OK team at the moment, but you’ve got to go through the gears to become a good team, then a very good team and then you become an excellent team,” said Ryan.
“It’s a very long road and we need to put in hard work. As long as the lads keep up the effort on the training pitch and they listen to what we’re saying, the results will come.
“The attitude and work ethic are second to none in terms of putting bodies on the line for us, we know that the football side is coming, the football is exciting. I’ve been playing that way for several years, although there’s a few cracks in the tiles that we can improve on.
“Rome wasn’t built in a day, it’s a long season and we’ve got to work tirelessly hard. We’re in September, we’re not on as many points as we want but we’re eight weeks into the season. We know there’s room for improvement all over the pitch but we’ll keep improving and, when you do that, the results start coming.”