Argyle have a week ahead of them that is potentially season-defining.
The Greens play Stevenage and Huddersfield Town, on Tuesday night and Saturday afternoon respectively, taking on two teams not far above them in the table, as the race for Sky Bet League One play-off positions reaches a critical stage.
Stevenage, managed by Alex Revell, started the season tremendously, leading after ten games, and although they only won two in 16 at one point, they have rallied to win six of their last ten, and sit fifth in the league. Earlier in the season, when the sides met on New Year’s Day, it finished 1-1.
Argyle could welcome back Conor Hazard, Brendan Galloway and Ayman Benarous into the squad, as the Greens look to follow up two consecutive home wins.
If Tom Cleverley’s side can add six points to their current tally of 53, then they can certainly start to dream even further. For now, though, it’s one game at a time, and Cleverley will certainly not be drawn too far into the future.
“It will be a really strong challenge,” Cleverley said, in Thursday’s press conference. “It was there on New Year's Day, where I think it was a well-battled draw for both teams, and it'll be a very similar game tomorrow. It'll be one of those League One games that is a bit of a battle of attrition at times, and then we want to try and show our quality when we're attacking their box.
“In the last couple of years, it's not an unusual position for Stevenage to be, in and around the play-offs. They'll be used to challenging for things like this. Alex [Revell] has done a great job, an absolutely fantastic job; to see how competitive they are, how defensively good they are, how good they are at set plays.
“I think when you get to a stage of having points in the mid-50s, then you can really start to look upwards. That's what we're doing. We never get too long-term excited, and we're very focused on the challenge of Stevenage. This week, two really big home games for us. If we come out with a good points return, then we're in a really good place.”
