When discussing Argyle’s 2-1 home defeat to AFC Wimbledon, Head Coach Tom Cleverley looked at it in the context of games before and after Saturday’s game.
It had started well for Argyle against the Dons. Lorent Tolaj scored early on, but Wimbledon equalised via Omar Bugiel before half-time, and then scored a winner through Marcus Browne in the second half.
This came off the back of a 1-1 draw at Home Park two weeks previously, against Wigan Athletic, in which Argyle also took the lead with a Tolaj goal, only to be pegged back to 1-1.
Speaking to Argyle TV after the Wimbledon loss, Cleverley said: “I have an overriding feeling of disappointment, and I think that comes from two games on the trot now where we've taken the lead against difficult structures to break down: a 5-3-2 and a 5-4-1.
“The hardest thing is taking the lead, and breaking that down. To then come away with only one point out of the two games is hugely disappointing.
“It’s not like our goal's been battered down by either side; we've not shown enough resilience to small amounts of pressure, conceding a combination of three goals that means one point from the two games, and that needs a lot of work.
“Home records and defensive records are where success and consistency is built, and we're nowhere near it in both departments at the minute.
“Against Wigan, for example, we've got 10 minutes to go, [and we’re] 1-0 up. You have to be really clinical; there has to be a real conviction. You can see that the goal Wigan scored was a collection of errors that showed a bit of tentativeness.
“Today, it was a different phase of the game. I thought: ‘we've got the foot on the neck. Let's kick on. Let's really give our fans something to celebrate before we go on the road for a few games.’
“Again, the word is ‘tentativeness’. We looked a little bit shy to show for the ball, not clinical enough in our duels – and we've paid the price.
“It is really disappointing that we've been a little bit on the tentative side. Now, why is that? We've got a lot of young players. We've got a lot of players that this is the biggest club they've played for. We need to try and overcome that, because that's the challenges of playing for this football club.
“There's expectation, there's a huge fan base. It's not going anywhere.”
Argyle’s opportunity to bounce back is just 45 miles to the north-east, at Exeter City, on Thursday. The first Devon Derby in three seasons will bring pressures of its own, but Argyle have won their last two away games – 3-2 at Luton Town and 4-0 at Burton Albion - following a long fallow period on the road.
“I'm under no illusion how big it is for everyone,” said Cleverley. “Being in English football for as long as I have, you see from the outside looking in, it's a huge fixture and how much that means.
“We're not playing that down. The players will need picking up after this. I think something that they've done this season is not get too low through the lows. My challenge is also: ‘let's not get too high after the highs’. Burton was a huge high for us all. Did we maybe get ahead of ourselves a little bit?
“That's one for the players to look at, and where we can maybe improve.”
