We, here at Plymouth Argyle, are rather over St Patrick’s Day, as a concept. We are now looking forward to St Canute’s Day, on 19 July, for he is the Patron Saint of Denmark.
OK, perhaps that is going over the top, but Mathias Ross, our really-rather-good Dane, for want of a better phrase, stole the show as Argyle beat Stevenage 1-0 at Home Park on Tuesday night.
At one end, he towered above all in a crowded six-yard area to head in the only goal of the game, just before the hour mark. At the other, he was an unmovable pillar whenever Stevenage threatened to get an equaliser, which occurred a little too often for comfort as Argyle got a little ragged in the closing stages, looking to see out the game for a vital three points.
They managed it. In truth, it was a pretty poor game, a mile short of the standards of the 2-2 draw with Reading three days prior, but the +3 on the points tally was the vital metric.
Coming into the game, Tom Cleverley had to add another to his injured list, with Caleb Watts missing out, but the Head Coach was buoyed the returns of Conor Hazard, Ayman Benarous and Brendan Galloway.
The latter duo were on the bench, but Hazard came straight back into the team, behind an unchanged back four of Joe Edwards, Mathias Ross, Alex Mitchell and Jack MacKenzie. Herbie Kane continued as the deepest central midfielder, with Malachi Boateng joined by Jamie Paterson alongside. Bim Pepple operated as the central striker, with Owen Dale to his left and Ronan Curtis to the right.
Stevenage had a decent chance on just four minutes. They had already slung in a long throw from the left-hand side, and this delivered a corner which fell, on the second ball, to Matt Phillips, who lashed at the ball and sent it over the bar into a grateful Babcock Devonport End.
Argyle responded, and had their first shot in anger when Paterson had one effort blocked and then, from the rebound, sent another shot wide.
It is worth noting that the next note being written here about the game is in the 28th minute, meaning that the most remarkable thing to happen in the preceding 20 minutes was the fact that essentially nothing happened. Both teams were guilty of not controlling or retaining the ball, and other than a couple of long-range efforts from Stevenage that troubled Block 3 rather than Conor H, the game was a tepid watch.
Around the half-hour mark, though, Argyle stirred. A free-kick just inside Stevenage territory was clipped in, headed by Ross, and then pushed goalwards by Mitchell. This effort was blocked, and Dale slipped trying to get onto the rebound.
A minute or two later, Dale got a cross to the far post, which Curtis headed over, and shortly afterwards roles were reversed, Curtis breaking and playing Dale in, with the resultant move falling between Paterson and Boateng in the area, with Stevenage able to clear.
Next, Kane crossed from deep, Curtis nodded across, and Boateng could not quite steer on target. A minute later, Stevenage struggled clear a free-kick, Curtis put a ball into the middle, and Ross hooked a shot on target which Stevenage goalkeeper Filip Marschall held onto.
Five minutes before the break, Stevenage took advantage of some loose play by Argyle and worked a ball to Dan Kemp, who was held back by Mitchell. Stevenage felt that there was a case for Mitchell being sent off, for denial of a goalscoring opportunity. Referee Elliot Bell disagreed, and showed Mitchell only a yellow card.
There was time for another chance at each end, of very different levels of obviousness. For Argyle, from a good piece of Mitchell defending, it was worked through Boateng to Curtis. His effort on target was probably a skewed cross, but it worried Marschall, who unconvincingly pushed it wide.
Argyle failed to make the corner count, and Stevenage broke. Appeals for Jamie Reid being offside were unfounded, as he had burst from his own half, and as he bore down on Hazard, Reid looked long odds-on to score. However, he skewed his effort a long, long way wide. The noise from the home stands were part derision, part relief.
The opening ten minutes of the second half were dominated by discontent, this time aimed at the referee for his method of dealing with holding at corners. Argyle were the first to have an attacking corner, and after a lengthy wait for the delivery, as the Greens felt they were being held in the middle, as soon as the kick was taken, a free-kick was given. Go figure.
Then, in the interests of balance, essentially the same thing happened at the other end.
So then, when Argyle got a 57th-minute corner, eyes naturally went to the man with the whistle. It was a whistle that stayed unblown as Curtis crossed into the centre of the six-yard area, where Ross leaped highest to head into the net via the crossbar.
Stevenage sought a response, but were naturally going to be more open as a result. From one counter-attack, Curtis drove forwards, and had options aplenty to play to a supporting team-mate but, spoiled for choice, chose none, and got caught. Almost instantly, the visitors looked to get Reid through, and it was a superb block by Ross that stopped his advance in the area.
The Dane continued to be in the action at both ends. A floated free-kick by Curtis was cleverly chested down by Pepple, with Ross trying to clip it over Marschall. Had the Stevenage goalkeeper not been about six-foot-seven, he might have succeeded.
Argyle fancied a second. MacKenzie won a strong challenge near the halfway line, and a couple of moments later was sending in a brilliant left-wing cross that a sprawling Pepple could not quite make contact with.
Both sides made a host of changes, with Argyle bringing on Xavier Amaechi, Owen Oseni and Brendan Galloway for Paterson, Dale and MacKenzie. Stevenage also made several subs, with former Pilgrim Jordan Houghton among them, to a pleasingly warm reception.
Amaechi and Oseni, along with Pepple, combined nicely to shift the ball quickly and get Oseni into a shooting position, with his effort going not far over.
The final 15 minutes or so, including seven added on, descended into a game in which Argyle knew they had to do anything they could to repel Stevenage, whose approach was far from subtly crafted, and the Pilgrims looked a little – perhaps understandably – nervy in doing so.
But they did, and won 1-0.
Cheers. Sláinte. And Jubel.
Argyle: 1 Conor Hazard, 2 Mathias Ross, 3 Jack MacKenzie (22 Brendan Galloway, 79), 7 Jamie Paterson (10 Xavier Amaechi, 64), 8 Joe Edwards (capt), 15 Alex Mitchell, 19 Malachi Boateng, 20 Herbie Kane (4 Brendan Wiredu, 90), 27 Bim Pepple, 28 Ronan Curtis, 35 Owen Dale (18 Owen Oseni, 79). Substitutes: 21 Luca Ashby-Hammond (gk), 14 Ayman Benarous, 41 Seb Campbell.
Goals: Ross 57
Booked: Amaechi 90+3
Stevenage: 1 Filip Marschall, 2 Luther James-Wildin, 5 Carl Piergianni (capt, 6 Dan Sweeney, 89), 10 Dan Kemp (40 Lenny Brown, 89), 11 Jordan Roberts, 15 Charlie Goode, 16 Lewis Freestone, 18 Harvey White (4 Jordan Houghton, 77), 19 Jamie Reid, 23 Louis Thompson (8 Daniel Phillips, 77), 25 Matt Phillips (30 Beryly Lubala, 77). Substitutes: 13 Taye Ashby-Hammond (gk), 17 Jasper Pattenden.
Booked: Freestone 9
Attendance: 13,945 (160 away)
Referee: Elliot Bell
