Features, Keeping it real POSTS

Keep It Real: Plymouth get first win of 2009

Published by Andrew Reilly on March 2, 2009

If you’re struggling near the bottom of the table and you are facing the team at the top of your league, the prospect of an early goal can be exhilarating but it can also cause some concern. The thought that you may just have scored too early and are going to make the opposition angry must have run through the minds of the Plymouth Argyle players and fans as they celebrated the 34 second goal by Paul Gallagher. Without a win in 9 games, Plymouth Argyle were no doubt buoyed by their early strike but facing the top scorers in the division, the odds would still have been on a Wolves goal throughout the rest of the match.

As it was, Argyle held on for their 1-0 victory which relieved some of the pressure on boss Paul ‘Luggy’ Sturrock and gave their players a win bonus for the first time in 2009. It is bad enough with the credit crunch and the financial markets being what it is but when you haven’t picked up all three points since Boxing Day, any win is sweet. When your goal comes from an overhead kick and the home team gets a late equaliser ruled out for a supposed shove, you just know that the luck is with you.

There is no doubt that Plymouth faced their opponents at the right time as the teams at the top of the Championship are showing signs of nerves which could make this years race for the Premier League too tough to call. In a normal season, stragglers like Sheffield United, Swansea City and Cardiff would be settling for a Play-Off place and a slice of luck to make it to their promised land but if the top teams keep dropping points, anything can happen. Plymouth are still firmly in a relegation dogfight and this victory doesn’t change anything but on their day, any club is capable of beating any other.

Well, maybe apart from Wolves who like Plymouth, had only won once in the league since December 20th. Bad runs have to come to an end at some point but the prediction for which team would finally be getting the monkey off their back at Molyneux was not tipped to be the boys in Green. Mick McCarthy will have to give himself and his squad a long hard look in the mirror this week and attempt to bounce back from another disappointment but for Argyle and Sturrock, things may just be turning around.

A home game versus Watford is a match between two sides stuck on 39 points and if Argyle were to triumph again, they would be putting some serious space between themselves and the bottom three. Another home game follows at the weekend against Reading, another team near the top who stumbled at the latest hurdle so there will be little to fear for Argyle. With the club celebrating their first win this season, it is perhaps a bit much to expect them to notch up three wins in a row but once you get the taste for winning, its sometimes hard to stop.

**Photo Credit Panda Evans **

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