eSports Preview: Decision Time

With Argyle eSports’ Virtual Pro Gaming (VPG) League One South season drawing to an end, manager Ben Taylor already has more than one eye on the next campaign.

Having recovered from six successive defeats at the beginning of the season, Taylor’s side climbed the fringes of the promotion race with ten games to go, but a slump in form has ended hopes of a late charge.

With the remaining fixtures effectively dead rubbers for the Pilgrims, Taylor is looking to rotate his side to give fringe players the opportunity to stake their claim for a role next season.

Taylor said: “We had a discussion on Tuesday, and we’re going to start trying a few things. We are planning on giving a few players who haven’t had much of an opportunity to show what they can do. For a lot of players, it is a chance to prove that they can stay on with us next season.

“We want to improve next season and get stronger, so people will be playing for places. We want to shoot for promotion next season, and that means making changes, if we have to.”

In contrast to their League One South form, the Pilgrims made an excellent start in the VPG English Premier competition, which consists exclusively of teams affiliated with professional English clubs.

However, they head into Thursday night’s match against Scunthorpe United coming off the back of two successive 1-0 defeats at the hands of Northampton Town and Rotherham United.

“[Against Rotherham] a penalty was given for no reason, I have no idea what happened – the game just stopped and it was a penalty. We couldn’t get back into the game, didn’t take our chances, and lost the game.”

“It was a bit gutting, really. We felt like we were playing well, but we just couldn’t get back into it.”

“We just need to start creating and taking chances. We get a bit complacent in games, and that’s our downfall. We have conceded a few sloppy goals and not got back into games.”

“[Scunthorpe] are a good team, but we’ve always given them a good game in the past. We hope we can go in, play how we know we can play, and hopefully turn our form around with three points.”

Argyle eSports face Scunthorpe United at 8pm BST in the English Premier division, before taking on VPG Primo (8.45pm) and ANFA eSport (9.15pm) in League One South. All three fixtures will be available to stream live on our Facebook and Twitch channels.