Back on the Winning Bike

ARGYLE move on from the momentous occasion of New Year’s Day against Swindon Town and the grand opening of the new Mayflower Grandstand to a gruelling trip to Scunthorpe in Sky Bet League Two.

The Pilgrims were unlucky in going down to a 2-1 defeat against the Robins on Wednesday but manager Ryan Lowe has plenty of respect for his Swindon counterpart Richie Wellens and was delighted by a fantastic atmosphere inside Home Park for the game.

“We are League Two for a reason and they [Swindon] are the same, but it was two good-size clubs and two good teams playing in the right way,” said Ryan. “I’ve got a lot of time for Richie, they do it right.

“The atmosphere was electric and to see the flags and everything when we first came out, it was bouncing. I’m disappointed we couldn’t get the win on special day but, as I keep saying, it’s a work in progress, whether we win, lose or draw.”

Now the dust has settled on Swindon, the Greens take on a Scunthorpe side that has shown vast improvement since their 2-2 draw in the reverse fixture at Home Park in early October.

For Argyle, the past couple of days have been all about rest and recovery after a busy Christmas period and the gaffer is hoping to have midfielder Danny Mayor back firing on full cylinders following a sickness bug that restricted him to a substitute appearance against Swindon.

“The Swindon game is done now and, as we said when they [Scunthorpe] came here, they were in a false position and they’re slowly climbing the table,” said Ryan. “They’re playing decent football and winning games.

“We’ve lost a game that we feel could have potentially been a draw, so we need to get back on the bike and get riding because you can’t lose too many games. We want to have a better 2020 than 2019.

“We’ve had a chat with the lads and asked them how they feel. No-one is going to say they’re too tired because this is their job and it’s football.

“They’ve worked their socks off, put bodies on the line and they’re running distances that are massive. The distance they’ve covered is very good and we’ll look at that because we know they can’t do too much. The main part now is recovering the boys properly to get back on that bike and go again.

“He [Mayor] was actually sick. He wasn’t feeling well at the Stevenage game and we had to send him home the day after the Stevenage game because the lurgy has been going around, hence why he was only able to play 20 minutes.

“He hadn’t eaten for two days but he wanted to be here, and when someone of Danny Mayor’s quality says they want to be here, you can’t say no.”