For 45 minutes, Argyle’s game against Blackpool at Home Park had a feeling of déjà vu.
Several times this season, including on Tuesday night against Leyton Orient, Tom Cleverley’s Greens have started on the front foot, failed to take their chances, and then seen the game slip away from them.
Two things occurred in the second half, though, that led to this particular afternoon becoming a different matter.
Firstly, Argyle took the lead. In other games, after being on top for 20 minutes, then ceding control, as happened here against the Seasiders, the opposition have scored first. Indeed, in all four league games that preceded this, and the Carabao Cup tie against Queens Park Rangers, Argyle went (at least) a goal down.
This time, Malachi Boateng’s excellent goal, which would ultimately decide the game, put Argyle in front very early in the second period. This, then, led to the next challenge – that of seeing the game out, something the Pilgrims haven’t been in the position to do thus far in Sky Bet League One.
They did this with aplomb, and the manner in which they professionally saw the game to its conclusion, generating their first three-point haul of the campaign, might well have been the thing that satisfied Cleverley the most.
“I’m very pleased,” he said to Argyle TV after the game. “I think there's an overwhelming sense of relief, then when you stand in front of the Babcock Devonport End, there's a real sense of pride, and joy.
“It's been a lot of suffering for that moment; we’ve suffered for three or four weeks now.
“We know the work we do, we believe in the work we do - and that's important. Not one person, player, staff member has lost any belief in what we're trying to do, what we're trying to build. We deserve that today. The important thing now is we build on it.
“I thought we started well again; we were in control. Then, after about 25 minutes, the second part of the first half was probably theirs. We didn't create much in that period of the game and then we came out again with a sense of authority.
“The last part was probably the most pleasing part, where we've got the first goal and we looked like a team who knew how to win. We managed the game, we managed the tempo, we managed situations and counter attacks.
“It was a real positive impact from the substitutes. The story of the game was a positive one for us. I thought we deserved the win, but the most pleasing part for me was the last 20 minutes.
“I think I have to say the first goal, the first goal that we've managed to break the deadlock with, we've managed to get that off our back, that we hadn't taken the lead yet.
“I showed the players before [the game]. We had the first two chances at Bolton, first two chances at Lincoln, first four chances against Leyton Orient. We're not starting sloppily; it's just we're not turning that into a goal.
“That's got to be my most pleasing part, but right up there will be how we managed the game and deserved the win.
“We should take confidence that, mentally, it probably will never be as difficult as that today. It was a high-pressure game for everyone involved today, after the start we've had. There was a lot of pressure on a game that is one out of 46.
“They've responded to that. They went through a little bit of adversity. The players deserve this one, and I'm really pleased.”
