Plymouth Argyle move out of the relegation
zone on goal difference after a 2-1 victory over Fleetwood Town in a ‘must-win’
fixture in Npower League Two.
Manager John Sheridan had named an
unchanged side that was included in the goalless draw against Bradford on
Tuesday evening. Veteran Plymouthian
Paul Wotton was to partner Guy Branston in central defense for the second consecutive
game after Anthony Charles failed to make the squad of 18 through injury. However there was a change on the substitute
bench, Sheridan welcomed back Irish born goalkeeper Rene Gilmartin after he
recovered from an hamstring injury which he sustained in the Accrington Stanley
fixture which was played at Home Park on Saturday January 26th
2013. The visitors to Plymouth Fleetwood
Town had made two changes to their side which was victorious at Accrington
Stanley winning 3-0 on Tuesday evening. Both
of the changes from Fleetwood’s manager Graham Alexander came in midfield. The first of the changes to the side was in
central midfield with Ryan Crowther coming into the starting 11 with Anthony
Barry dropping to the substitute bench. The
second of the changes came in the left midfield position with Paul McKenna
replacing Gareth Evens.
On the afternoon of Armed Forces
Day at Home Park both team emerged from the tunnel following the referees for
the afternoon, who have all served in the Armed Forces. After the match-day ball
was delivered by a current service member, Fleetwood, who were making their
first ever visit to Home Park, were ready to kick off and attack the Devonport
End. The fixture started very slowly
with neither team getting into the rhythm of the ‘must-win’ fixture for
Argyle. It was the visitors who were
finding their feet in the game at Home Park with the first shot on target. Jon Parkin known as ‘The Beast’ shot from
long range from outside the penalty area, to force goalkeeper Jake Cole into a
low save down to his right, in front of the home supporters. This came after
Argyle’s Andres Gurrieri had fired a shot from long distance, it did not
trouble the goalkeeper as the shot had taken a deflection and gone out for the
Pilgrims first corner of the afternoon. On
the 25minute just over the half way mark in the first half Paul Wotton had given
the Green Army something to cheer about after slotting away a penalty straight
down the middle of the goal-mouth in front of the Barn Park Stand. The penalty was awarded to Plymouth after a
corner had been delivered on the right side.
The referee for the afternoon Trevor Kettle had pointed to the spot
after ‘The Beast’ Jon Parkin had fouled Captain Conor Hourihane, who ended up
on the floor from the resulting corner.
After much discussion Paul Wotton was given the go ahead from manager
John Sheridan to take the penalty, and so he did, powerfully slotting the ball
straight down the middle with the opposing goalkeeper Scott Davies not having a
chance to save as he dived down to his right.
Argyle 1-0 Fleetwood Town. After
Wotton had given his beloved hometown team the lead against the Lancashire
side, Argyle were very slopping in possession of the football surrendering
possession to Fleetwood under no pressure under the opposition players. On loan Crystal Palace winger was Argyle only
threat in that time but soon after he had doubled the lead for Argyle 6minutes
before half time. After nicking the ball
of off Fleetwood’s midfielder Paul McKenna down the right wing, he used all of
his experience from his previous clubs to cut inside and set free a magnificent
shot that hit the back of the net side the top left hand corner from outside
the penalty area. Argyle 2-0 Fleetwood. Minutes before the half time whistle was
blown goalkeeper Jake Cole had made a fantastic save to deny Junior Brown from a
consolation goal from close
range after Ryan Crowther had crossed the ball in. Jake Cole saved extremely
well after the players were caught out of position as Cole saved down to his
left to put it out for a corner so that the players could re-group. After 1
minute of additional time had been played the referee signaled for half time.
Half Time Argyle 2-0 Fleetwood.
During the half time break the
Armed Forces band HMS Drake were out to entertain and so were the team that
faced Santos at Home Park in a friendly 40years ago winning 3-2. After the lap
of honor it was time to welcome back both team, Argyle and Fleetwood onto the
Home Park pitch. The teams were
un-changed for the start of the second half with Argyle re-starting the fixture
with Captain Conor Hourihane and his midfield partner Lee Cox. Fleetwood Town had emerged after half time as
a much better team attacking at every opportunity they could. Fleetwood were shooting from every ankle as
well to score a consolation goal. This goal
nearly came from a long range effort from Ryan Crowther, Jake Cole saved
comfortably in goal. The Argyle defense
was forced to defending on numerous occasions forcing Guy Branston and Paul
Wotton to intercept many crosses that were crossed into the penalty area. Half way through the second half Fleetwood
had a glorious opportunity to score. From
a Alan Goodall’s cross on the right Jamie McGuire headed wide a header as he
was unmarked by the Argyle players. When Plymouth were to attack Banton was the
only real threat down on the wing with Reuben Reid on loan from League One
Yeovil Town, central in the attack to hold the ball up. With every ball that was to come from the
defense straight through to the attacks Reid was caught off-side on some occasions
as he was on the shoulder of the last man in Fleetwood’s defense. John Sheridan made his first two substitutions
of the afternoon by bringing on both Paris Cowan-Hall and Nick Chadwick in
place of Andres Gurrieri and Reuben Reid with 20minutes remaining in the
encounter. With minutes of these
substitutions Fleetwood had capitalized on a misplaced header by Guy Branston. David Ball had got round the back of defender
Maxime Blanchard to shot from a very acute angle from a cross to the near post. In intense pressure by the visitors Argyle
stood tall and defended extremely. With under
5minutes remaining referee Trevor Kettle produced a red card for Paul McKenna
the Fleetwood midfielder after he had fouled Paris Cowan-Hall on the right
wing. From picking up an earlier yellow
card in the game the referee had no chose to issue another yellow card to the
player who walked of and went for an early bath. From the red card that he had picked up, he
will now miss there next fixture which is against Barnet at Underhill on
Tuesday evening. With four additional
minutes added onto the 90 Fleetwood were putting Argyle under huge amounts of
pressure to earn a draw. In this added
time Jon Parkin was fortunate not to see red after he had pushed Banton to the
floor with Banton just being fouled; Parkin moments earlier had just been shown
a yellow card. Argyle was able to see the game out with composure and belief to
lift themselves out of the relegation zone on goal difference.
Full Time Argyle 2-1 Fleetwood
Town.
Argyle
(4-5-1): 1 Jake
Cole; 4 Maxime Blanchard, 15 Paul Wotton, 5 Guy Branston, 14 Onsimor Bhasera;
27 Andres Gurrieri (7 Paris Cowan-Hall 72), 10 Lee Cox, 19 Jason Banton, 6
Conor Hourihane (capt), 18 Joe Bryan; 24 Reuben Reid (9 Nick Chadwick 72). Substitutes (not used):
2 Durrell Berry, 8 Luke Young, 20 Rene Gilmartin, 28 Ronan Murray, 29 Tyler
Harvey.
Booked: Wotton 46
Fleetwood Town (4-4-2): 1 Scott Davies; 2 Shaun Beeley, 6 Nathan Pond, 25 Robert Atkinson, 13 Alan Goodall (5 Jean-Michel Fontaine 89); 12 Junior Brown, 18 Jamie McGuire (11 Barry Nicholson 70), 24 Ryan Crowther (32 Gareth Evans 68), 37 Paul McKenna; 26 David Ball, 9 Jon Parkin. Substitutes (not used): 4 Anthony Barry, 10 Jamille Matt, 15 Conor McLaughlin, 33 David Lucas (gk).
Booked: McKenna 45, Parkin 88
Sent-off: McKenna 85
Referee: Trevor Kettle
Attendance: 6,776 (62 away)
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