Wow I'm exhausted just watching this one. What could have been an easy victory if certain people had converted easyish chances turned out to be real hard work and a nail bitting exercise. Chesterfield are a decent side which you would expect given their lofty position in the league. However for most of the first half they did very little in front of goal and Argyle were comfortable. Reid poked one in and in truth he could have had a hattrick in the first 45. The one he scored was for me the hardest of the three. Alessandra was having a decent game again and the whole team seemed in control. They harried Chesterfield whenever they had the ball and defended from the front. That is maybe what made it look easy and Argyle were well worth their lead. Alessandra going off with an injury was for me the turning point of the game. For some reason Argyle stopped defending from the front players. Several of them became hesitant and were not chasing for the ball. Cole was doing his usual I'll just stand on my line and not move if the ball comes in as a cross or a through ball into my box. Chesterfield had more and more of the possession and started to create chances in and around the box. To be fair to Cole he made several great stops but in the end the pressure told and Chesterfield equalised. If I'm totally honest I thought that Argyle were going to get beat because once you are on the back foot it is very difficult to get back into the game. I'd say against the then run of play Argyle scored their second. Reid again who could have had 5 tonight if he had a bit of luck. It was still backs to the wall though and Chesterfield pressed and pressed. Morgan came on for Reid and he did a lot of running and making a nuisance of himself which helped the defence. Argyle hung on and I would say that hung on is the right expression. Officials were quite reasonable for once but I would say the Ref bottled a red card when he had already booked the Chesterfield player for exactly the same offence he did again. Clearly he didn't want to have to do the report so he let him off the hook with a talking to. He could have also sent another one off for a nasty tackle on Blanchard halfway into the second half. Chesterfield players are whingers by the way. After the final whistle there was something that kicked off by the tunnel. No idea what it was about but sure somebody somewhere will.
We were obviously typing at the same time and agree with most of what to have said sensible. Yes we were hanging on to a certain extent but also thought we were good value for the 3 points. Just thought it was a great game between two decent teams.
I know it sounds silly.....but I hope we haven't hit the play-offs too early. We now become the hunted......so slip ups can now be costly. Alessandra's injury sounded like an achilles problem....lets hope it isn't too serious...else he could be out for awhile. Reid is doing well and it sounded like he missed the easier ones and scored the harder chances.....might be difficult to hang on to him at the end of season when he might return to Yeovil....and might fit into their plans if they get relegated.
The man himself (Alessandra) said it was a hamstring via Twitter and that he was praying it wasn't as bed as it felt. A shame as his all-round play is excellent. Congratulations from Caolan Lavery (keep in touch Caolan). Best wishes from Guy Branston from commentary box at Torquay - nice touch under the circumstances. Paul Wotton compared to Beckenbauer by one excitable fan. Hmmmm. PS Whatever happened in the tunnel may have had something to do with Gary Roberts who managed to get himself embroiled in an unpleasant Twitter exchange with Argyle fans after the match, which seemed to have involved calling all Argyle players "sh*t" and Sheridan a "bellend". Classy Gary.
That's my next door neighbour's name and just to confirm yes he is. (Man U supporter with a janner accent). I'm not sure you can peak too soon can you? What you have to do is keep picking up the points and as long as you are winning then it matters not what anyone else is doing. Alessandra will be a blow. For me he has been player of the season or near enough anyway. Vastly improved with a great engine. Not sure who we would slot in to his roll. He presses and presses up front in the same way that E-Blake used to do and his like. When he went off last night that bit stopped pretty much and the others didn't show the same desire to chase anyone down. Don't think Banton for example is the answer as a replacement.
