Saturday’s win over Doncaster Rovers heralded the start of another two weeks of almost constant action for Tom Clevereley’s Plymouth Argyle.
Three days after the 2-1 victory at Home Park, the Greens will be at Wigan Athletic with, in turn, that game being followed by a trip to Reading. After that, it’s another Home Park double header, with games against Stevenage and Huddersfield Town.
This busy run would be tricky enough, but for an Argyle unit that has been chipped away at by well-documented injury issues, it is a tough period to navigate.
The win over Rovers was a good start to the sequence, though. That said, Argyle took their time. They were 1-0 down, and rightly so, to Doncaster, before Bim Pepple equalised just before half-time, and substitute Herbie Kane got a second-half winner.
Speaking after the game on Saturday, Cleverley explained a tactical switch that perhaps gave Argyle the edge they needed.
“I thought they were the better side first half,” Cleverley said. “I thought [they were better] until the change of system, when we went 4-3-3. Could I have done that a bit sooner, maybe 10 minutes before? I’m a little bit annoyed with myself because we were getting outnumbered in midfield. We needed to get another body in there, so we dropped Caleb Watts back down as a midfielder and we got a foothold in the game.
“[In the] second half, we were much better. The intensity, the care on the ball, the introduction of the substitutes really had a good impact. The timing of the goal just before half-time is key. And in the end, our second half performance got the job done.
“When you change systems, there's quite a few details you need to get in with that. 4-3-3 is not something we've done for a long time. It was important and the players understood the jobs in the second half.
“The mentality of the players is really strong at the minute. The help from the supporters is helping and I'm pleased that we've managed to overturn a poor first half.”
“[Injuries are] a challenge for sure. And the quality of those players that we have out is also a challenge, but we have 11 guys that we trust, plus seven more that we trust to do a job. We prepare them as the best we can. Today was never the issue in terms of preparing a team. Tuesday will be a little bit more stretched in terms of numbers.
“You're asking Jack McKenzie, who's played his first 90 minutes, to go again potentially Tuesday. It's going to be a real grit-your-teeth week.
“We're in between a rock and a hard place at the minute. We want to try to give our injuries a little bit more time to get to the speed of things so we don't risk them. But also, Wes Harding needs assessing.
“We're juggling a lot at the minute. We're trying to put the most competitive team we can out there for each game as well as not potentially risking losing players for even more time. We're in a tough moment when it comes to numbers, but when you've got spirit like we showed [against Doncaster], then that'll trump everything.”
Argyle have met Wigan once before, this season, drawing 1-1 at Home Park earlier in the campaign. Since then, Wigan have changed managers, with Gary Caldwell taking over recently, and getting off to a good start to turn round Wigan’s ailing fortunes.
Caldwell was the Exeter City boss when Argyle lost a Devon Derby in October, and Cleverley’s connection with the new Wigan incumbent goes back even further.
“Gary was my captain at Wigan when I was on loan there and is someone I know very well,” said Tom. “He's a very, very good coach. He has seven points in four league games. They'll be organised, they'll be tough to break down. They've got some good players in their team, so we expect a really tough challenge. It's important that we back up [Saturday’s] good result.”
