The 3-1 seen at Home Park was a victory not only for Tom Cleverley’s Plymouth Argyle, but for hard work, endeavour, and belief.
Argyle were playing well and on top before Cameron Humphrys opened the scoring for visitors - and fellow play-off chasers – Huddersfield Town. The Greens went slightly off the boil for the remainder of the first half, but roared back after the break.
Owen Dale scored his first Argyle goal shortly after the restart, and it was followed by a Bim Pepple penalty and an Owen Oseni goal to give the Greens what turned into a comfortable win.
It was made so, though, by a performance that had all the basics, the fundamentals that coaches love to see. Argyle did not let going behind undeservedly faze them, and in front of a notably energetic home crowd, matched that energy and parlayed it into a huge win that takes Argyle to the fringes of the top six.
It is a fourth home in in a row, and the second this week, following Tuesday’s win over Stevenage. Prior to that, the Pilgrims had drawn 2-2 at Reading, and this means that three games against teams around them has yielded seven points from a possible nine, and given ground to absolutely no-one.
“Not only for the opposition we were playing against, but I thought the performance [was outstanding.]” said Cleverley. “To go to Reading last week, big occasion, the travelling support, and rise to that occasion, and then get up for another occasion against Stevenage on Tuesday.
“Today was the pinnacle, with close to a sell-out against Huddersfield, just above us and to put in a performance like that…
“I could go through every single one of them and tell you what they did right today, but as a team I thought we were intense, aggressive, dominant in every area. That all came together into a performance like that.
“[At half-time] first of all, [we said] ‘no panic’. If you recreate that performance second half, you give yourself the best chance. It might not win you the game, but you give yourself the best chance. I thought we came out the blocks, we won duels, we scored from a set play, and then that gave us a big burst.
“The players know when we've executed and when we've not. In the first half, we did. Football sometimes doesn't reward you for that, so don't panic and keep doing the right things.”
Not only did Owen Dale get a goal to get him off the mark in green, he put in a tireless performance that was appreciated by the Green Army, and the match sponsors who named him Player of the Match.
It was clear that Dale’s Head Coach appreciates him, too.
“I think you could see how delighted I was for him,” Cleverley told Argyle TV. “It was a fantastically timed goal. He's the ultimate team player. He puts team before self and you need as many like that as you possibly can in a winning team. For that, he does sacrifice goalscoring positions at times, but he's always creating, he's always putting dangerous crosses in, and I was delighted for him because he strikes a good ball.
“He knows that and we know that, and we want him to score more goals.”
