90 minutes of football. That’s all that currently stands between Plymouth Argyle Women and potential promotion to the WSL2.
After a long campaign of high highs and some low lows, a deserved spot in the Play-Off Final on Monday, 4 May, at 1pm, at the Pirelli Stadium, Burton Albion, falls to Argyle and Marie Hourihan.
Their opponents on the Bank Holiday afternoon - Wolverhampton Wanderers. The Northern Premier Division side were unlucky to miss out on automatic promotion when looking at the table, but so were the Greens.
One point separated Argyle and Watford in the Southern Premier Division. One point separated Wolves and the unbeaten Burnley in the north.
A 90-minute shoot-out will now ensue on Monday, in the eyes of Head Coach Hourihan, but she believes her side are prepared for the challenge at hand, with several experiences throughout the season aiding the Greens with their preparations, mentally and physically.
“At the start of the season, if you'd have said that Argyle would be in the play-off, I don't think many would believe it,” Hourihan told Argyle TV. “The work that's gone into this season has been phenomenal, and to go from 20 points and narrowly missing out on relegation, to then achieving 52 and being one point off the top of the league, within the space of 11 months, is a testament to the work that's been done both on and off the pitch.
“We go into this game against a team who similarly have had a very strong season, losing just one game, so you've got two teams that have been on, and are certainly on, an upwards trajectory. I think it’ll be a fantastic game to represent what Tier 3 Women's National League football is, and the winner then gets the carrot of WSL2 football.
“I've got experience playing against that team from my time at Stoke. I think it's a group of players that have been together for quite a long period of time and have really strengthened this season, and we saw that in our preseason game. I think the team that Wolves will be playing on Monday, from what they played in pre-season, from our perspective, certainly is very different.
“They're very consistent and physical, have an attuned way of playing, and have been very successful with it. They've got some players who have scored a lot of goals, so it's something that we are going to have to be very wary of, but we've also got things in our armoury that we think we can hurt them.
“The most important thing for me is the game, not getting caught up in the enormity of the occasion, and just focusing on those 90 minutes. If it then goes into penalties, then we’ll be fully focused for that as well; it's a one-off shoot-out.
“You’ve got 90 minutes to go and win a game. We know the journey that Wolves have been on and what they went through last season. They're going to go for this game. That's what it means to them. I think for us, and what we have done, this has been 10 months of a lot of work. A lot of things have been put into place, and it's taken a lot from everybody to get here.
“We've had the disappointment of the cup final, but that's something that we are going to use as an experience to help us get going into and in this game. Now, we've got one more challenge to overcome to achieve our dream, which we set out to do at the start of this season.”
Like most away games as a Plymouth Argyle fan, travel will be involved, with the Pirelli Stadium playing host to the fixture. The home of Burton Albion will likely have several supporters make the short journey from Wolverhampton, but will also undoubtedly have those in green rocking up in their numbers and getting behind the squad, as they have done all season.
Hourihan said: “The support has been unbelievable. Even last weekend at Bedford, we had supporters going down to get behind us in that game. Yes, Burton obviously is geographically a lot closer to Wolves, but for us, we know the support that we're going to get.
“To the Green Army, just encourage us as much as you can because it makes a difference. The fans have built a lot of the momentum for us and have really bought into what we're trying to achieve. We want to have as many fans there as possible to make it the fantastic occasion that it deserves to be, but also the fans deserve this moment as well to come and celebrate this team, and have an opportunity to try and watch the team achieve the achievable.”
