eSports Preview: Cobblers Challenge

Argyle eSports face Virtual Pro Gaming (VPG) English Premier high flyers Northampton Town on Monday night, looking to extend a promising start to life in the top-tier competition.

The Greens have played six games in their maiden VPG English Premier campaign, having only lost once. With two wins and three draws to their name, they sit firmly in the top-half of the league, following two solid draws on Thursday night.

“The English Premier games were tricky – the server died in the middle of the Lincoln game, so we had to play it in two halves,” said the Pilgrims’ manager, Ben Taylor. “If we had played a full 90, we probably would have found the breakthrough. In the Southend game, we defended well, and probably could have broken them down, but it wasn’t meant to be.”

“We’ve only lost once so far [in the English Premier], and we probably shouldn’t have lost that one, to be honest. We’re doing well in this league - we’re pulling out some results. Northampton are up at the top of the league, and haven’t conceded a goal, so it will be a tough evening.”

While the Pilgrims are enjoying the early stages of their first English Premier campaign, their faint hopes of promotion from VPG League One South look to have been extinguished.

Despite a superb 1-0 victory over promotion-chasing Fearless eSports on Thursday night, a 3-2 defeat to eSports Vikings Slayers followed, leaving them four games off the top three, with only six fixtures left to play.

“In League One, against Fearless we defended well and took our chance right at the end. Against Vikings Slayers, we just stumbled,” said Taylor. “There’s 18 points to play for, but we’re 12 behind, and I can’t see any of the top three teams dropping the points needed for us to go up.

“We’ll just aim and finish as high as possible, have a strong rebuild in the off-season, and try and get that promotion next time.”

The VPG League One South season concludes this week, which will provide Taylor and his teammates an opportunity to regroup ahead of the next campaign.

He said: “Normally, it’s a couple of weeks’ break. So, we’ll take a few days to see what we can improve and change and try and get as ready as we can. If we had started the season even half competitively, we would be right in the mix.”

Argyle face Northampton Town eSports at 8pm BST in the VPG English Premier, before taking on BDGR eSports in VPG League One South at 9pm. Both fixtures will be available to stream live through our Facebook and Twitch channels.