Argyle Under-18s will look to have an immediate reaction to their defeat on the weekend when facing Forest Green Rovers on Tuesday afternoon.
Swindon Town defeated the Greens 3-0 at Millennium Fields on Saturday, stunning Jamie Lowry’s side. With a quick turnaround of just three days between games, however, the Argyle Head Coach is hopeful that a quick reflection and desire to want more can help the squad when they kick off at Harper’s Park on Tuesday afternoon.
A 1-0 win against Rovers earlier in the calendar year should also bring some confidence to the forefront of proceedings for the midweek clash, but Lowry also highlights the need to rein in any belief to a certain level to approach the game in the correct manner.
“Saturday was a very disappointing performance,” Lowry told Argyle TV. “Too many players were cruising through the game, and we didn’t have enough intensity, desire to win the ball back, willingness to play for it and run forward.
“It is not acceptable. How the lads train is what we want to implement in the game, and too many of them just turned up and were there without impacting the game. We spoke to them about what your purpose is in the game and what you bring to the game - whether you're an attacker, trying to create and score, or defensively, winning the ball back - and had a debrief on Monday morning to reflect.
“All I'm looking for on Tuesday is to respond and have an intensity in how they play. A willingness to run around, compete for the ball, and play forwards. It's all about the performance. The result will come if the performance is right, but again, individuals know what they are expected to do and that they were well below par on Saturday.
“We also need a bit more togetherness, cohesion and leadership throughout the group. Then, a real competitive performance, with the lads wanting to run around and play with energy, which we totally lacked on Saturday.
“Something that we speak about a lot is that our home form is really important to us. It's always something that we've done relatively well with. Opposition teams, I think, psychologically struggle with the travel before they’ve even stepped on the pitch, and we didn't use it to our advantage on Saturday.
“So, the bit of seriousness and focus seen in training on Monday is good. We couldn't really do much because of the quick turnaround, so it was short and sharp, but they came in with a bit of energy, which is important.
“They need to take that into the game tomorrow.”
