Very Brief Synopsis

Stevenage were crap and were there for the taking.

The referee was double crap and made some of the strangest decisions I've seen in a long while.

We were feckin' atrocious, hard to believe it was the same team(Norburn aside) that played so well on Saturday.

Same old Argyle.......................thoroughly pissed off.

we got stripes though...................................  

And I missed the equaliser    Greeeen Aarrrmmyyyyy   

it was a shit game to watch and a draw was fair reflection on that no side deserved to win. Total 360 from saturday.

So despite saying I wouldn't be giving Brent my money, I have sinned and been for the first time since we came out of admin.

To say we were abysmal would be a compliment. Playing one up front and just lumping long ball after long ball up to Reid who didn't even look like winning a header was a woeful tactic and there was no Plan B. Even after the 3 subs we did the same thing.

Stevenage were better organised and dangerous in the final third. They were denied 2 penalties, one when a bloke was clean through and should have been a red too. Mellor should also have been sent off in the first half when he handballed to stop someone going clean through.

The referee was poor, Argyle got every major decision - the 2 pens, the 2 sending offs and then the penalty at the end. That one was a clear pen, but there were a couple of hands up there and he could have bottled it given he was off down the tunnel in 30 seconds.

All in all, a very undeserved point and we could not have complained about a 0-3 defeat.

Ref was shite for both sides. Stevenage masters of dark arts of diving, wasting time, niggly fouls going unpunished. Their goal was a good move though.

Argyle first half were terrible. We played with two holding defensive midfielders but the full backs were scared to cross the half way line. Consequently our attacks broke down quickly. Banton was awful throughout (apart from one shot) and did not look interested in supporting Reid or generally running. Our passing was poor- O'Connor played a number of aimless balls. Morgan tried when he came on and Smalley didn't look bad in the air.

Not sure what the penalty was for- probably nothing given the atrocious bald tosser of a ref.

MOM- Nelson - solid throughout

And all that timewasting has cost them dearly, 10 mins of time added on !!

Bloody typical, leave at 9:25pm convinced Argyle had lost, only to find out they made it 1-1.

Get out of jail card then.

What a terrible game that was. Neither side deserved to win and a draw was the correct result.

Crap atmosphere inside HP too.

VillageGreen wrote:

Bloody typical, leave at 9:25pm convinced Argyle had lost, only to find out they made it 1-1.

Get out of jail card then.

What a terrible game that was. Neither side deserved to win and a draw was the correct result.

Crap atmosphere inside HP too.

i dont know the people at the back of block 14 never shut up

On their penalty claims I thought Allen did foul their number 22 in the box, but the #22 had fouled Allen on the way into the box (but the ref didn't give either). They also claimed a penalty from a handball in the area but I thought the Stevenage player handled it.

I couldn't see the Mellor handball incident which most have said should have been a red card.

Looked like he slipped over and landed on the ball to me    In all honesty what did the ref get right tonight ? apart from our penalty   

McHugh is not a left back!! Purrington should be first choice and he should be allowed to stake a claim in the middle. woeful tonight
Banton isnt the same guy he was when he was on here on loan i feel he needs to buck up or the club should move him on in jan
Morgan i dont think won a single header or without fouling someone if he did. Get rid i think
Alessandra needs to be alongside Reid not on the wing
Harvey did well but the lack of exp hindered him at times but he is looking like he could be a good midfielder
Mellor nothing good to say or bad either  
McCormick was steady when called apon not alot he could do about the goal
Hartley did mehh
Nelson did mehh
Cox another neither good or bad did well to last as long as he did without getting injuried
Reid looked sharp but you could tell he needs someone to work with up there little supprised he came off tbh
o'connor again mehh
Allen made a good tackle to deny a 2nd goal he could be some player as a DM
Smalley got us a point but wasnt that effective when he came on

JS needs to work hard over the next 11 days and find a natural left back/left midfielder in the joe bryan mould, an replacement for Hourihane as harvey did well he has got that experienced behind him and cox cant stay fit and now i would say a replacement for morgan.

Completely different sort of match to Saturday,as could have been predicted i suppose.Stevenage would have had their scouts at the game against Exeter and would have been briefed sbout the likely dangers presented by Argyle.It certainly showed,they were noticeably better organised than Exeter-whereas there was acres of room for Harvey,Reid,Banton etc on Saturday,tonight space was at a premium against the marking and quick closing down of the ball.I didn't think Argyle were that bad in the first half,created one or two chances,the best of which was a header from Reid which he couldn't quite keep down.Can't honestly remember Stevenage providing that much threat but the longer the match went on,the more the chances of them taking advantage of Argyle's edginess and frustration increased.Looked as if McHugh should have stopped the cross but the guy who scored was unmarked and he made no mistake.Reid was surprisingly substituted and Argyle huffed and puffed to little effect but the pressure [such as it was] finally paid off in the 6th minute of injury time,penalty converted with aplomb by Smalley to give Argyle a point which i thought was deserved,contrary to other posters.I didn't like Stevenage,nasty little team moulded by a nasty little manager and didn't shed tears for them at dropping the two points in that fashion.Not a great evening but i've seen successful Argyle teams pull points from the fire in replica games to tonight,so maybe it was a point gained on reflection.Although it was true that Argyle got some of the major decisions,the referee was completely shite towards Argyle in other areas,notably some bizarre free kicks given against Reid.

What to say?

Every single time the ball went near Reid the ref gave a foul against him. Every time.

We didn't manage a shot at goal until about an hour had been played although a taxi foul-up meant I missed the first 10 minutes.

The penalty was for handball. The ref blew his whistle but didn't seem to know who had handled and it was the lino with flag across his chest wot give it.

Dean Smalley came on as sub and scored a late penalty. If he'd then done a cartwheel it could have been Carlo Corrazzin's debut revisited.

Stevenage could easily have had a penalty and red card near the end. The ref gave nothing.

4 minutes added on in the first half and 6 in the second. Neither was long enough to account for all the wasted time.

A very frustrating evening. Glad we got a point out of it. Stevenage'll be gutted not to have had all 3.

I did think some of our fans were getting prematurely orgasmic after Saturday's game. Tonight's game confirmed those thought's and normal service was resumed. Usual division 4 crap!

Stevenage's and Westley's anti-football worked for them in making us nearly ineffective and our sluggish showing adding to that to make us totally ineffective.

The referee really didn't help the game. The guy was oblivious to the advantage rule, thought everything was a handball and generally didn't have a clue. For either side that is, its no excuse for our total shite showing, but it is another reason for such poor entertainment.

Then at the end Westley's boring and anti-football tactics bit them on the ass as the 4th official rightly held them accountable to their time wasting. We probably only saw about 20/30 minutes of football over the 90... Boo hoo Westley you sad old cnut. What a horrible side Stevenage were.

To be honest at FT, I was more celebrating Stevenage/Westley not leaving with 3 points than us getting one. For once in this league, cheating and time wasting doesn't work.

Ref, well, what a pathetic ref.

Well that was the week that was...exhilarating, unpredictable, dramatic, surprising, at times mesmerising but finally disappointing.

A three game week in which I came out of all of them exhausted but I came out of two of them very pleased. This was, it goes without saying, not the one that I found much to be positive about.

Walking out of Home Park post-Orient and post-Exeter I was full of vim and vigour about what looked to be the beginnings of a very promising team. I gave John Sheridan a lot of credit for forming it, motivating it and making the right changes. Today however, we saw the very worst of John Sheridan encapsulated and it's exactly why I still don't entirely trust him as a manager. A team made with one iffy selection- Cox clearly wasn't fit. I'd have given Allen a start with Harvey (disclaimer, neither of them are the messiah I know well well) and seen what he can do. Whatever they would have done, it'd surely have been better than 'one notch above sweet FA' which is what Cox contributed because he was clearly too unfit to make any meaningful impact. Also, McHugh is still not a left-back and never will be. Purrington is far from perfect- he was overrated last season and poor concentration contributed to a few goals conceded. However, I simply cannot imagine him being so utterly ill at ease with the position he's been allocated as McHugh. He just doesn't know where he should be positionally at any one time. He rarely overlaps for wide play on the left. And when he does he doesn't get back fast enough. The man is a centre-back- if that means he has to sit on the bench until he gets his chance to break into the team then so be it. But he is never in a million years a left-back. Playing Carl McHugh as a left-back is a masterclass in making a promising, likeable new signing who came with rave reviews into a complete flop. Let's cease it.

The other disappointment was the subs. Allen never got in the game and showed that in spite of his undoubted promise he still has some way to go yet. Morgan was more like his self of last season than the improved specimen which we saw in the last two games- didn't do nearly enough harrying up front which to be frank, is all he can do really. Smalley was a fresh pair of legs and he made himself available but his end product until the penalty was absolutely atrocious. It just about summed the game up that he fell over when he was nowhere near the ball. Great penalty though and I admired how determined he was to be the one to take it.

Our performance for 97 or so minutes was on the whole negative, morale-sapping and very uncreative. Even in extra time, heads were drooping against the ground. A decent spell of play for about a minute or so before the penalty was just about the only thing we troubled them with in the whole of the last 10 minutes which is pretty appalling really. I think it's fairly obvious what was at the root of such a tepid display. We played very well against Exeter and Orient who were two teams who gave us a game of football on similar terms. When we were up against a team who played nasty, cynical hoofball which we haven't really come up against so far, we were then faced with a challenge. Do we continue to play our own game and make things happen or do we reduce to their level, not attack very much and try too many hopeful long balls? Sadly, what we did was the latter when we should have done the former. When we did try and play attacking football, there were spells where we didn't look too bad. In those spells, Harvey shone out as a threat too. Sadly, those spells were few and far between. For most of the game, we had a complete headloss, abandoned our initial plans and tried to mimic Stevenage's play. And of course in those moments Tyler was completely useless. Next time, let's play our own game and not try to do a pastiche of an opposition purely because we haven't played against a team of their style yet. Because the rare occasions that we threatened, were the occasions that we played it on the deck. A lesson to be learned.

McCormick did most of what he had to do well- although I'll need to see the goal again. Mellor was one of our better (less bad) outfield players who defended generally very well but needs to be doubly decisive going forward. Doesn't offer enough in that regard at all. Nelson and Hartley were patchy- not quite the below par performances that they put in against Orient but far from their majestic presence against Exeter. Both of them struggled badly on crosses in the air.

Alessandra for me is not cutting it so far this season, one very good game against Exeter excepted. If ever there's a confidence player, it is him. When he's got it, he will take players on, get past them, run around like a duracell bunny charging people down and score goals. When he's not got it, he will look like a little lost lamb off the ball and make the most conservative pass possible every time he receives the ball. Very poor game today. Banton will get slated for his second half display but I thought he was the only forward player in the first that was consistently showing for the ball even when those around him lost their heads in a sea of hoofball. That said, all that he tried to do in the second half went poorly. Last season though, he wouldn't have even been trying to do the things which is a more acceptable type of sh1t. I think he badly needs a goal for his confidence. Reid didn't move off the ball very well and in a game where he wasn't getting much good service, that's something he needs to do. Hints of promise and he's still our best player but had a poor game today.

Cox wasn't fit. Harvey wasn't suited to the game. O'Connor was very busy as usual and has half of the attributes needed to be a superb DM. He covered an absolutely insane amount of ground against Exeter and I said he had all the hallmarks of a player you'd see in a promotion side. I still stand by that, based on his off the ball work. His distribution however, simply does not cut the mustard and it nearly cost us a goal today. I really hope he can work on that side of his game because it's all that's stopping him being sublime for us.

Aside from our comical performance, that utter clown of a referee really does make you wonder how bad you have to be to be booted off the listings. Every single foul that was committed he seemed to miss and he made up several non-existant fouls that oddly enough seemed to come on the rare occasions that we were in a good position. We can only blame ourselves for such a turgid performance but up until minute 98, it would certainly be fair to say that the referee didn't help us. I'd need to see both the Mellor yellow card controversy and the penalty decision again- but my first instinct was that both of them were the correct decision. Their man should have walked for the elbow on Lewi- as should their manager for raising his hands to an opposition player. It should have been 11-10 on the pitch and 1-0 in the dugouts. Though with Sheridan's subs today, I'm not sure whether that would have made any difference or not. Stevenage are one nasty teams of bastards- if there's one team I hope we do good and proper this season, it's them up at their place. Typical Westley team who suck all the life out of the game. It was almost as good to get one over on them as it was to equalise.

On the whole, we got lucky. The one occasion in the last 10-15 minutes in which we bothered applying pressure got us a penalty kick. That said, these things do sort of even themselves out and no doubt there'll be a game soon when we're unlucky. Still, it wasn't good. A poor game but one which we were saved nasty scenes of booing at the end by one fantastic moment. It may not have taken away from the 97 minutes of trash that preceded it but it did provide one moment of euphoria that nonetheless sent me out of the ground with a grin on my face. We need to seriously step it up a bit at Bury and stop pooping ourselves every time a team plays in a way that we don't expect. Drop McHugh, drop Harvey (as much as I like him) and let's shake things up a bit. Because we can do a lot better than that. Good week, felt I got my money's worth for certain. And on the positive side at least we didn't lose, as Sheridan says. But a crap game- performance was miles below what we are capable of.

McCormick 7 MOTM

Mellor 6
Nelson 6
Hartley 6
McHugh 4

O'Connor 6
Cox 3
Harvey 5

Alessandra 3
Banton 4
Reid 5

Allen 4
Morgan 5
Smalley 4

Taking into account these and preceding match reports, I have come to the conclusion that absolutely nobody at HP has a clue.

From the reluctant one through the token, nodding directors, to the ramshackle bunch of supposed coaches, right through to the sullen, unsmiling and uninspiring manager. Add to that the compliant, wannabe someone, bucket rattling superfans, ably supported by a banana in a tent making the Avivas laugh, a state controlled fans' forum , local media and public servants who roll over for the fine gentleman, an earnest trust with more gazebos than gonads and you have the perfect recipe for what is being witnessed on the pitch itself.

Watchafink ?

GreenSam wrote:

Well that was the week that was...exhilarating, unpredictable, dramatic, surprising, at times mesmerising but finally disappointing.

A three game week in which I came out of all of them exhausted but I came out of two of them very pleased. This was, it goes without saying, not the one that I found much to be positive about.

Walking out of Home Park post-Orient and post-Exeter I was full of vim and vigour about what looked to be the beginnings of a very promising team. I gave John Sheridan a lot of credit for forming it, motivating it and making the right changes. Today however, we saw the very worst of John Sheridan encapsulated and it's exactly why I still don't entirely trust him as a manager. A team made with one iffy selection- Cox clearly wasn't fit. I'd have given Allen a start with Harvey (disclaimer, neither of them are the messiah I know well well) and seen what he can do. Whatever they would have done, it'd surely have been better than 'one notch above sweet FA' which is what Cox contributed because he was clearly too unfit to make any meaningful impact. Also, McHugh is still not a left-back and never will be. Purrington is far from perfect- he was overrated last season and poor concentration contributed to a few goals conceded. However, I simply cannot imagine him being so utterly ill at ease with the position he's been allocated as McHugh. He just doesn't know where he should be positionally at any one time. He rarely overlaps for wide play on the left. And when he does he doesn't get back fast enough. The man is a centre-back- if that means he has to sit on the bench until he gets his chance to break into the team then so be it. But he is never in a million years a left-back. Playing Carl McHugh as a left-back is a masterclass in making a promising, likeable new signing who came with rave reviews into a complete flop. Let's cease it.

The other disappointment was the subs. Allen never got in the game and showed that in spite of his undoubted promise he still has some way to go yet. Morgan was more like his self of last season than the improved specimen which we saw in the last two games- didn't do nearly enough harrying up front which to be frank, is all he can do really. Smalley was a fresh pair of legs and he made himself available but his end product until the penalty was absolutely atrocious. It just about summed the game up that he fell over when he was nowhere near the ball. Great penalty though and I admired how determined he was to be the one to take it.

Our performance for 97 or so minutes was on the whole negative, morale-sapping and very uncreative. Even in extra time, heads were drooping against the ground. A decent spell of play for about a minute or so before the penalty was just about the only thing we troubled them with in the whole of the last 10 minutes which is pretty appalling really. I think it's fairly obvious what was at the root of such a tepid display. We played very well against Exeter and Orient who were two teams who gave us a game of football on similar terms. When we were up against a team who played nasty, cynical hoofball which we haven't really come up against so far, we were then faced with a challenge. Do we continue to play our own game and make things happen or do we reduce to their level, not attack very much and try too many hopeful long balls? Sadly, what we did was the latter when we should have done the former. When we did try and play attacking football, there were spells where we didn't look too bad. In those spells, Harvey shone out as a threat too. Sadly, those spells were few and far between. For most of the game, we had a complete headloss, abandoned our initial plans and tried to mimic Stevenage's play. And of course in those moments Tyler was completely useless. Next time, let's play our own game and not try to do a pastiche of an opposition purely because we haven't played against a team of their style yet. Because the rare occasions that we threatened, were the occasions that we played it on the deck. A lesson to be learned.

McCormick did most of what he had to do well- although I'll need to see the goal again. Mellor was one of our better (less bad) outfield players who defended generally very well but needs to be doubly decisive going forward. Doesn't offer enough in that regard at all. Nelson and Hartley were patchy- not quite the below par performances that they put in against Orient but far from their majestic presence against Exeter. Both of them struggled badly on crosses in the air.

Alessandra for me is not cutting it so far this season, one very good game against Exeter excepted. If ever there's a confidence player, it is him. When he's got it, he will take players on, get past them, run around like a duracell bunny charging people down and score goals. When he's not got it, he will look like a little lost lamb off the ball and make the most conservative pass possible every time he receives the ball. Very poor game today. Banton will get slated for his second half display but I thought he was the only forward player in the first that was consistently showing for the ball even when those around him lost their heads in a sea of hoofball. That said, all that he tried to do in the second half went poorly. Last season though, he wouldn't have even been trying to do the things which is a more acceptable type of sh1t. I think he badly needs a goal for his confidence. Reid didn't move off the ball very well and in a game where he wasn't getting much good service, that's something he needs to do. Hints of promise and he's still our best player but had a poor game today.

Cox wasn't fit. Harvey wasn't suited to the game. O'Connor was very busy as usual and has half of the attributes needed to be a superb DM. He covered an absolutely insane amount of ground against Exeter and I said he had all the hallmarks of a player you'd see in a promotion side. I still stand by that, based on his off the ball work. His distribution however, simply does not cut the mustard and it nearly cost us a goal today. I really hope he can work on that side of his game because it's all that's stopping him being sublime for us.

Aside from our comical performance, that utter clown of a referee really does make you wonder how bad you have to be to be booted off the listings. Every single foul that was committed he seemed to miss and he made up several non-existant fouls that oddly enough seemed to come on the rare occasions that we were in a good position. We can only blame ourselves for such a turgid performance but up until minute 98, it would certainly be fair to say that the referee didn't help us. I'd need to see both the Mellor yellow card controversy and the penalty decision again- but my first instinct was that both of them were the correct decision. Their man should have walked for the elbow on Lewi- as should their manager for raising his hands to an opposition player. It should have been 11-10 on the pitch and 1-0 in the dugouts. Though with Sheridan's subs today, I'm not sure whether that would have made any difference or not. Stevenage are one nasty teams of bastards- if there's one team I hope we do good and proper this season, it's them up at their place. Typical Westley team who suck all the life out of the game. It was almost as good to get one over on them as it was to equalise.

On the whole, we got lucky. The one occasion in the last 10-15 minutes in which we bothered applying pressure got us a penalty kick. That said, these things do sort of even themselves out and no doubt there'll be a game soon when we're unlucky. Still, it wasn't good. A poor game but one which we were saved nasty scenes of booing at the end by one fantastic moment. It may not have taken away from the 97 minutes of trash that preceded it but it did provide one moment of euphoria that nonetheless sent me out of the ground with a grin on my face. We need to seriously step it up a bit at Bury and stop pooping ourselves every time a team plays in a way that we don't expect. Drop McHugh, drop Harvey (as much as I like him) and let's shake things up a bit. Because we can do a lot better than that. Good week, felt I got my money's worth for certain. And on the positive side at least we didn't lose, as Sheridan says. But a crap game- performance was miles below what we are capable of.

McCormick 7 MOTM

Mellor 6
Nelson 6
Hartley 6
McHugh 4

O'Connor 6
Cox 3
Harvey 5

Alessandra 3
Banton 4
Reid 5

Allen 4
Morgan 5
Smalley 4

A good synopsis, I'd just like to add that Reid seems very isolated at times with a distinct lack of support from midfielders or fullbacks pushing forward. I'm not particularly criticising the formation, It just seems we are reluctant to attack en masse when the opportunity arises, the amount of times Reid wins long balls and either attempts to flick it on or hold the ball up for a non existant team mate is frustrating and predictable.

AstiSpumante wrote:

GreenSam wrote:

Well that was the week that was...exhilarating, unpredictable, dramatic, surprising, at times mesmerising but finally disappointing.

A three game week in which I came out of all of them exhausted but I came out of two of them very pleased. This was, it goes without saying, not the one that I found much to be positive about.

Walking out of Home Park post-Orient and post-Exeter I was full of vim and vigour about what looked to be the beginnings of a very promising team. I gave John Sheridan a lot of credit for forming it, motivating it and making the right changes. Today however, we saw the very worst of John Sheridan encapsulated and it's exactly why I still don't entirely trust him as a manager. A team made with one iffy selection- Cox clearly wasn't fit. I'd have given Allen a start with Harvey (disclaimer, neither of them are the messiah I know well well) and seen what he can do. Whatever they would have done, it'd surely have been better than 'one notch above sweet FA' which is what Cox contributed because he was clearly too unfit to make any meaningful impact. Also, McHugh is still not a left-back and never will be. Purrington is far from perfect- he was overrated last season and poor concentration contributed to a few goals conceded. However, I simply cannot imagine him being so utterly ill at ease with the position he's been allocated as McHugh. He just doesn't know where he should be positionally at any one time. He rarely overlaps for wide play on the left. And when he does he doesn't get back fast enough. The man is a centre-back- if that means he has to sit on the bench until he gets his chance to break into the team then so be it. But he is never in a million years a left-back. Playing Carl McHugh as a left-back is a masterclass in making a promising, likeable new signing who came with rave reviews into a complete flop. Let's cease it.

The other disappointment was the subs. Allen never got in the game and showed that in spite of his undoubted promise he still has some way to go yet. Morgan was more like his self of last season than the improved specimen which we saw in the last two games- didn't do nearly enough harrying up front which to be frank, is all he can do really. Smalley was a fresh pair of legs and he made himself available but his end product until the penalty was absolutely atrocious. It just about summed the game up that he fell over when he was nowhere near the ball. Great penalty though and I admired how determined he was to be the one to take it.

Our performance for 97 or so minutes was on the whole negative, morale-sapping and very uncreative. Even in extra time, heads were drooping against the ground. A decent spell of play for about a minute or so before the penalty was just about the only thing we troubled them with in the whole of the last 10 minutes which is pretty appalling really. I think it's fairly obvious what was at the root of such a tepid display. We played very well against Exeter and Orient who were two teams who gave us a game of football on similar terms. When we were up against a team who played nasty, cynical hoofball which we haven't really come up against so far, we were then faced with a challenge. Do we continue to play our own game and make things happen or do we reduce to their level, not attack very much and try too many hopeful long balls? Sadly, what we did was the latter when we should have done the former. When we did try and play attacking football, there were spells where we didn't look too bad. In those spells, Harvey shone out as a threat too. Sadly, those spells were few and far between. For most of the game, we had a complete headloss, abandoned our initial plans and tried to mimic Stevenage's play. And of course in those moments Tyler was completely useless. Next time, let's play our own game and not try to do a pastiche of an opposition purely because we haven't played against a team of their style yet. Because the rare occasions that we threatened, were the occasions that we played it on the deck. A lesson to be learned.

McCormick did most of what he had to do well- although I'll need to see the goal again. Mellor was one of our better (less bad) outfield players who defended generally very well but needs to be doubly decisive going forward. Doesn't offer enough in that regard at all. Nelson and Hartley were patchy- not quite the below par performances that they put in against Orient but far from their majestic presence against Exeter. Both of them struggled badly on crosses in the air.

Alessandra for me is not cutting it so far this season, one very good game against Exeter excepted. If ever there's a confidence player, it is him. When he's got it, he will take players on, get past them, run around like a duracell bunny charging people down and score goals. When he's not got it, he will look like a little lost lamb off the ball and make the most conservative pass possible every time he receives the ball. Very poor game today. Banton will get slated for his second half display but I thought he was the only forward player in the first that was consistently showing for the ball even when those around him lost their heads in a sea of hoofball. That said, all that he tried to do in the second half went poorly. Last season though, he wouldn't have even been trying to do the things which is a more acceptable type of sh1t. I think he badly needs a goal for his confidence. Reid didn't move off the ball very well and in a game where he wasn't getting much good service, that's something he needs to do. Hints of promise and he's still our best player but had a poor game today.

Cox wasn't fit. Harvey wasn't suited to the game. O'Connor was very busy as usual and has half of the attributes needed to be a superb DM. He covered an absolutely insane amount of ground against Exeter and I said he had all the hallmarks of a player you'd see in a promotion side. I still stand by that, based on his off the ball work. His distribution however, simply does not cut the mustard and it nearly cost us a goal today. I really hope he can work on that side of his game because it's all that's stopping him being sublime for us.

Aside from our comical performance, that utter clown of a referee really does make you wonder how bad you have to be to be booted off the listings. Every single foul that was committed he seemed to miss and he made up several non-existant fouls that oddly enough seemed to come on the rare occasions that we were in a good position. We can only blame ourselves for such a turgid performance but up until minute 98, it would certainly be fair to say that the referee didn't help us. I'd need to see both the Mellor yellow card controversy and the penalty decision again- but my first instinct was that both of them were the correct decision. Their man should have walked for the elbow on Lewi- as should their manager for raising his hands to an opposition player. It should have been 11-10 on the pitch and 1-0 in the dugouts. Though with Sheridan's subs today, I'm not sure whether that would have made any difference or not. Stevenage are one nasty teams of bastards- if there's one team I hope we do good and proper this season, it's them up at their place. Typical Westley team who suck all the life out of the game. It was almost as good to get one over on them as it was to equalise.

On the whole, we got lucky. The one occasion in the last 10-15 minutes in which we bothered applying pressure got us a penalty kick. That said, these things do sort of even themselves out and no doubt there'll be a game soon when we're unlucky. Still, it wasn't good. A poor game but one which we were saved nasty scenes of booing at the end by one fantastic moment. It may not have taken away from the 97 minutes of trash that preceded it but it did provide one moment of euphoria that nonetheless sent me out of the ground with a grin on my face. We need to seriously step it up a bit at Bury and stop pooping ourselves every time a team plays in a way that we don't expect. Drop McHugh, drop Harvey (as much as I like him) and let's shake things up a bit. Because we can do a lot better than that. Good week, felt I got my money's worth for certain. And on the positive side at least we didn't lose, as Sheridan says. But a crap game- performance was miles below what we are capable of.

McCormick 7 MOTM

Mellor 6
Nelson 6
Hartley 6
McHugh 4

O'Connor 6
Cox 3
Harvey 5

Alessandra 3
Banton 4
Reid 5

Allen 4
Morgan 5
Smalley 4

A good synopsis, I'd just like to add that Reid seems very isolated at times with a distinct lack of support from midfielders or fullbacks pushing forward. I'm not particularly criticising the formation, It just seems we are reluctant to attack en masse when the opportunity arises, the amount of times Reid wins long balls and either attempts to flick it on or hold the ball up for a non existant team mate is frustrating and predictable.

morgan did nowt yet sam awards a 5 compared to allen who did more :S

Are you unemployed Angrybloke ?

Tringreen wrote:

Are you unemployed Angrybloke ?

i have a job thankyou pays very well so much so i could afford to retire to someone nicer than cyprus when the time comes.  

Yeah fair play Angry, those two should be swapped around

People are being quite harsh on Argyle here. Remember Stevenage were in League One last season. We played very well against a side that will do very very well not to get relegated next season, and we got a little carried away.

The quality of this squad is about tenth in my opinion. This division has better quality and is more competitive than last season, and we need to get realistic about that. A team which is essentially top 10 at best has no business expecting to beat teams like Stevenage, who have been in and about League One for a fair few seasons.

As for Argyle, we need to let a few things sink in. We have a young, hungry, yet experienced RB who has played the position his whole career and knows what he is doing. We do not have an equivalent on the left, but an out of position CB and a much overrated kid who has done a job in a few games. So our back line is unbalanced.

In midfield Banton is working harder in terms of defending and holding shape, but not showing the confidence and aggression of pre-season. Nathan Thomas hasn't really been involved. Alessandra seems unconfident and doing the bare essentials. So our wing play is not up to scratch at all.

Cox and Norburn make for a decent midfield, but both have been injured already. Our only other options are two very young, inexperienced and inconsistent young lads in Harvey and Allen.

Reid is showing fantastic form up front, Smalley looks solid. But Morgan is still looking a spare part.

So I'd say overall, half the team is working, half the team isn't. Some have the potential to step up and we need to be seeing it.

McCormick, Mellor, Nelson, Hartley, Cox, Norburn, Reid - looking playoff quality.

McHugh, Harvey, Allen, Banton, Alessandra, Morgan, Thomas - we need to be seeing more.