It’s a Carabao Cup tie that will not live long in the memory on a warm evening at Home Park as Argyle exited the cup in the first round at the hands of fellow League One opponents Peterborough, here’s how the players are rated:
Michael Cooper – 6
After a tough weekend, Cooper was relatively untroubled here and whilst he’ll be disappointed by his own high standards at allowing the ball to go across him, the blame does not lay at his door for the first goal. A good, goal stopping block as the game became stretched in the second half was his highlight, but distribution was poor from Argyle’s number one particularly in the first half.
Jack Endacott – 6
What a moment for the young man who was handed his first Argyle start at Home Park in place of Bali Mumba. The one positive to his performance was the amount of crosses that he was successfully allowed to put across the Posh box but found himself struggling at times to get a real grip of things on the left side.
Brendan Galloway – 6
Making his first start in a competitive game since November 23rd when he suffered a dislocated knee against Wycombe, Galloway slotted into the back line and had a solid first start of the season. He was the perfect man to try and help his young left back through the first half and was often a calm head on the ball in and around his own box. It’s great to have him back on the pitch in the green shirt.
Nigel Lonwijk – 7
It was a shaky start for the tall centre back on loan from Wolverhampton Wanderers, but he warmed to his task in eye catching fashion. After a few loose passes in the first half and being drawn out of position for the Posh’s first goal, he settled into his role in the middle of the back three very well. Throughout the second half his composure and confidence on the ball grew as he carried it forward and this was a good starting point in his Argyle career. *Man of the Match*
James Wilson – 5
A frustrating evening for the senior man of the backline. A shaky start with a few errant passes was followed by a couple of occasions where Jade-Jones got in behind him to get the visitors moving forward. A yellow card would follow at the start of the second half for a cynical pulling back of an opponent, but we’ve seen that Wilson is better than this.
Joe Edwards – 5
Last season’s ever reliable skipper has had a bit of a tough start to 22/23 and things didn’t get much better tonight. We’ve become accustomed to seeing him fly forward down the right side but there was little evidence of that tonight and he really struggled to make a telling impact in what was an open cup tie.
Jordan Houghton – 5
Like Edwards, Houghton was one of the consistent, shining lights from last season but this was not his best game in an Argyle shirt. Caught in possession a few times in the midfield and found himself to be a little off the pace of how Argyle wanted to play. Couldn’t break up any of the Peterborough attacks which is usually one of his strong points. Like Wilson, he’s better than this and will improve as the season goes on.
Matt Butcher – 4
It wasn’t to be for Butcher this evening as he struggled to make any impression on the game at any point. Lost possession at regular times and couldn’t impact Argyle getting forward in what was a flat first half performance. Subsequently substituted at half time.
Morgan Whittaker – 6
The real plus point from the disappointing first half as we saw flashes of Whittaker’s pace and ability to run at and get past defenders. Squandered a good opportunity during a period of Argyle’s dominance in the second half but was a constant threat to the visitors without ever looking particularly threatening Infront of goal.
Luke Jephcott – 5
In all fairness to Jephcott, I’m not sure the position alongside Whittaker and behind Ennis really suits him. At times the ball wouldn’t stick whilst he was trying to hold up play on the halfway line but in the second half, he was able to influence attacks by spreading the play wide to players on the run. After coming off, it was noted he had an icepack strapped to the back of his leg below the knee joint.
Niall Ennis – 5
A frustrating first half for Argyle’s frontman which included him being dispossessed for the opening goal of the game. That was followed by a brilliant header on the end of one of Endacott’s crosses into the box brought an excellent save from Posh keeper Bergstrom at the start of the second half. At times, Ennis’ decision making in trying to set his teammates free on attacks was questionable and his passes can sometimes lack conviction. Tough being the front man for him, but he gave it his all.
Substitutes
Adam Randell – 5
The halftime replacement for Butcher, Randell couldn’t make a huge impact on the second half, and it started with him losing possession a few times. As the half went on, he did drop deeper to get on the ball, but it wasn’t a convincing cameo from the academy product.
Finn Azaz – 6
What an impact this substitution had on the game. Azaz gave Argyle a real purpose moving forward and created three or four good opportunities but sadly for him and everyone else inside Home Park praying for an equaliser, his shots were getting further away. There’s no doubting his talent and flair on the ball but he will need to be more ruthless in front of goal this season.
Macauley Gillesphey – 5
Replacement for Galloway after an hour, ‘Macca’ came on and didn’t really have much to do with the game for his half hour. He was caught out by a long ball over the top when the game was end to end but he wasn’t ever called upon to save his side.
Ryan Hardie – 5
Coming on to be the main man upfront in place of Ennis, Hardie had only the one real chance to impact proceedings before he faced a last ditched tackle in front of the Devonport end which resulted in a goal kick much to the surprise of most inside Home Park.
Danny Mayor – 5
Lost the ball on one occasion and was on the receiving end of one of the many chats Alan Young had with several players to cut out the backchat towards the referee. There’s no doubt however, dropping deeper to help Azaz, Whittaker and Hardie get on the ball more is a mouth-watering prospect for all Argyle fans.
Keep up to date with the season’s player ratings here:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1kLwlTDDhFsIKtKyBgd2rJsZcAJS0dbsQ0Ja34TLIm-I/edit?usp=sharing