Argyle Women are hoping to progress into the quarter-final of the FAWNL Cup on Sunday afternoon, when facing Oxford United at Home Park.
A victory over the U’s would secure the Greens’ spot in the last eight of the competition, but it will not come easily against a tough visiting opponent.
Marie Hourihan’s side have scored 19 goals and conceded just two in four games in the cup, with their last outing being a 3-0 victory away from home against Watford, meaning confidence and belief are flowing throughout the whole squad.
Assistant Head Coach Matt Green understands the end goal of progression through to the quarter-finals but notes that teams coming to Home Park will want to fight, get a result, and end Argyle’s unbeaten run in PL2.
“As always with cup football, you want to get that win and into the next round,” Green told Argyle TV. “The main goal is to progress as far as you can. We had a great run last year and want to go one or two better this year. To do so, we need to get past Oxford this weekend.
“We always plan and do our analysis on the opposition, prepare well and, ultimately, take care of ourselves. Throughout this week, we've looked at areas that we need to improve in from last week and have put that into motion. Oxford have just lost their manager, and have got an interim manager in charge, so, in my mind, that can work one of two ways.
“The players might be really up for it, or it might have the opposite effect, but we can only take care of what we can do. We can't look too closely at their situation and position in the league, because in cup football, anything can happen.
“Every single week, the Green Army turns up, and they support us, and the girls feed off the energy they give us. You can hear them out on the pitch, and it is great. It really does give you that extra lift when you need it. We're unbeaten here this season, so far, but teams will come here and want to take that unbeaten record away from us, so we must be wary of everybody that sets foot on the pitch.”
Alongside Matt’s role with the first team, he heads up the Pathway programme in place at Argyle. This season, three under-18s [Sienna Gilbert, Chloe Ingrouille, and Shana Dolbel] have made their debuts with the senior side, with many others also involved with training.
Green is delighted with the progression of all involved in the pathway and credits the trio’s hard work and dedication to get to the point they are at.
He said: “It's really good to see them make their debuts, and the three girls that you've mentioned there have worked really hard. Sienna came in at pre-season, with Shana and Chloe coming in at the start of the season, and all have done really well with us and in the Under-18s. We've been lucky over the last four or five years to have great young players come through this football club, and it seems to be continuing on.
“Even beyond the Under-18s at the moment, we've got great Under-15s and Under-16s squads, and all three of those teams play in the JPL, which is a good standard of football for them to develop and progress.
“Beneath that, the work the Argyle Community Trust does with all of the other age groups is phenomenal, so long may it continue. There are others that are training with the first-team squad as well, who haven't broken into the match-day squad yet, but watch this space. There’s more to come from those in the pathway.”
