eSports Preview: Perfect Night

Argyle eSports go into Tuesday night's fixtures having experienced their “best ever round” just 24 hours earlier.

The team won all three of their Monday night matches, including a scalp in the season-opening Virtual Pro Gaming (VPG) English Premier fixture against higher-ranked Tranmere Rovers, giving the entire squad a massive lift.

“We were fantastic last night, to be fair,” said eSports manager Ben Taylor. “Especially in the first game against Tranmere – we played them off the park and fully deserved the three points. It’s a great starting point for us.”

Tranmere play their regular season football in the Championship South – a division above the Pilgrims in League One South. On Monday night, though, you would not have known it, as the Greens comfortably prevailed 2-0.

Taylor said: “We felt that we could beat them, as I said before the game. We started fast and knew we needed to get the goal, and we topped it off with a fantastic second goal, which killed the game. We didn’t give them a sniff for the whole game, I think they only had one shot.”

Argyle then went into League One South action looking to snap a two-game losing run, which they did in some style – overcoming Three Lions eSports 4-2, before making it nine points out of nine with a 2-1 victory over Yxng Boys.

“In the first game against Three Lions, we went 1-0 up quite early on, and couldn’t quite find the second goal. Then, out of nowhere, we conceded two stupid goals and went behind,” said Taylor.

“At half-time, we had a discussion and I told them to just relax. We found a way back in and scored three fantastic goals in the second half. It was a big relief to right a wrong, really, as we had lost to them earlier in the season. The second game, we dominated – and it capped off probably our best ever round as a team.”

The two wins elevate the Greens to seventh position in VPG League One South, reigniting faint hopes of a late charge for promotion.

“If we hadn’t lost two games last week, we’d still be right in the mix,” said Taylor. “There is only 10 points between us and third, and there’s still three games left [in League One South] this week – so if we win the rest of them, we could close the gap.”

On Tuesday night, Taylor’s side take on two opponents who narrowly got the better of them earlier in the campaign. Argyle will look to make it two from two in the English Premier against Cardiff City, before facing Lisburn Town in League One South.

“They should never have beaten us in the first games we played against them. Tonight, we hope to go in with the same mentality and dominate the games. We have improved a lot since those games and we are confident that we can make it right.”

Argyle face Cardiff City at 8pm, before taking on Lisburn Town an hour later. Both games will be available to watch live on our Facebook and Twitch channels.