The Referee for this one appears card happy. Just what you need for a top of the table clash. Thought I'd post this early to give you all a chance to fill in your own blanks. Not a lot to say really for me except we can win this one no matter how tough it appears. COYG
Neither will it be a disaster if we don't. We beat them at Home Park, so it'll be nul pointes either way if we lose up there. We do have two tough games in succession, this and Portsmouth, but of the 16 games left after that we have 8 at home, comprising Fleetwood, Charlton, Forest Green, Bristol Rovers, Lincoln, Cambridge and Burton, plus Derby County. Excluding Derby, the highest placed of those are Bristol Rovers, currently back down to 12th with 6 points from their last 5 games and the set includes three of the current bottom four, namely Forest Green, Cambridge and Burton. Our last game is away at Port Vale, currently tucked away nicely in mid-table. All will not be lost if, and I say if, we get nothing from these two. Having said that of course, I have to take the precaution of saying "there is no such thing as an easy game".
I have said all along that any game is worth just 3 points the same as any other so I agree it would not be the end of our season if we did get nothing. I also agree that all games are hard in this league no matter where the side lies at the point of playing them. I maintain though that on our day we are capable of winning any game no matter what the opposition. Hence the "we can win this one". The only statement we can say with certainty right now is "we won't go down". Whooppeee!!
notDistant is correct in saying that it wouldn't be a disaster if we lost at Wednesday....disappointing maybe but not the end of the world. It is hard to believe that Argyle last lost an away game back in August....when I had the privilege of watching that debacle at Charlton when we were badly beaten 5-1....losing even before we were reduced to 10 men. Since then we have lost only once and that was at home unexpectantly against Port Vale 0-2.....and during this period have endured weeks of main players being injured....only recently regaining the availability of major players such as Finn Azaz again. Losing today would drop us to second....leaving Wednesday on top with a superior goal difference...plus a game in hand. A draw would be a great result....and frustrating for Wednesday. BUT an away win would be a major statement to Wednesday...and to Ipswich and Derby that we are serious promotion candidates to go straight up with out the play-offs. There will be 17 games left after today....and of the top eight teams we will be left with only one away fixture and that is against Barnsley. Also in that top eight teams we have only two left to play at home.....Derby and Bristol R. Of the rest we have seven away games against team between 9th and 20th in the league. Our remaining home games will be teams between 12th and 24th. Most of the hard work has been done.....as long as we maintain a reasonable level of form for the rest of the season our fate is in our own hands. Remember those that are chasing promotion still have to play teams that are also trying for promotion so they will be dropping points against each other. Also we have five new players from the January window fighting for first team inclusion....one of them is Matete who has already given our midfield extra bite. I'm predicting a draw today....losing will be disappointing but not the end of the world....a point would be good....a victory will be a statement to the rest that we are not going away that easily.
Cooper, Gillesphey, Houghton, Wilson, Scarr, Edwards, Mumba, Azaz, Waine, Matete, T Wright. Subs Burton, Hardie, Cosgrove, Randell, Lonwijk, Earley, C Wright. No Mayor, Ennis, Butcher, or Bolton. Miller and Galloway suppose to be fit but left out for this tough game....probably a good idea.
.....................................................................Cooper ...........................Wilson..............................Scarr..............................Gillesphey .........Edwards....................Houghton.......................Matete............................Mumba ...............................................T Wright.............................Azaz ....................................................................Waine
We've had lots of possession but no penetration through a Wednesday side well organised to stop us playing through them. Hopefully, Cosgrove and Hardie up front will allow us to go long and negate that. Cooper seems to have a leg injury following a collision with one of those forwards. Hopefully nothing more than an impact injury.....
Foul count clocking up against Wednesday. I'm not surprised: they were pretty rough in the home fixture... a physical side.
Picking up comments about our injured players. Cooper has a knee injury and was on crutches after the match.....lets hope it isn't season ending.....some of these ligament injuries take time to heal. Scarr said he felt something pop under his foot when he went up for a ball....so I don't know what that means....there's a lot of bones in a foot. So both sound possible problems regarding a quick return. Callum Burton does seem to be a confident keeper and kept a clean sheet for the rest of the match.....so could blossom if he is needed.....but we might be needing a back up for him. Now Scarr could be a different kettle of fish......this is one area we did not strengthen during the January window....we will miss his dominance in the air....and for set pieces up field.....we are definately short of good headers in this team. We will just have to wait to see how these two are come Monday.....our next game is home to Portsmouth ?
The defeat is disappointing but the nature of the injuries is more important. Very worrying. They kicked anything that moved at Home Park, so hardly surprising. We're not the same side without Dan Scarr and Cooper must be the best keeper in this division and better than some higher up.
