We’ve lost Akos Buszaky to an 8 month injury and replaced him with an average Stephen Dobbie and an 18 year old Graham Carey from Scotland as the Championship promotion push moves into the final stages.
Here he is then, I have quite literally broke the bank to bring this confused teenager to Home Park. It was something like £400k upfront with the rest in instalments and clauses/bonuses.
If you had told 2007 Graham Carey, he would become a future legend in green and white I am sure he would be pretty excited for his Celtic career. But no, he’s at Argyle.
He’s one of my favourite ever players. Watching him play for Argyle, albeit in Leagues One and Two, brought me pure joy in an otherwise time dark and confusing point of my life. A childlike wonder and enjoyment of football I had not felt since the days of Friio, Norris, Buzsaky and so on. And now I get to see them play together, although on a computer screen, and they aren’t real. They are pixels. A glorified excel spreadsheet.
So, back into the actual games. As much as I wanted to, I have refrained from starting Graham Carey. He’s not ready.
Don’t fix what isn’t broken, so it’s up to Wotton to smash them in from distance.
Scott Sinclair is the match-winner in a game we dominated.
And thousands of fans got to see a glimpse of the teenager we spent all our money on.
Holloway’s Sheff Wednesday and captain Cocko.
Where nothing happened.
Ah yeah, I almost forgot that we were hosting Premier League Invincibles and World Cup winners a-like when Arsenal come down for the FA Cup tie.
Here they are then. Not many remain from the Invincibles era. Thierry Henry captains The Arsenal in his final season before moving to Barcelona (well, in our reality). They must have signed 22 year old Georgio Chiellini recently. It’s Paul Connolly versus Thierry Henry. Adebayor versus Marcel Seip. It’s Plymouth Argyle versus Arsenal.
27 minutes on the clock, backs against the wall. We haven’t had a shot yet. Eboue falls in the box. Tripped apparently. Tell me where. Same old Arsenal, always cheating.
The arrogance of Thierry Henry to give the penalty to Julio Baptista. Think you are too good for us eh?
Romain Larrieu who, if I’m not mistaken was once linked with Arsenal, is aimed with the task of keeping things 0-0.
And he’s only gone and done it! Leaping to his right and pushing it behind with a strong hand.
I mean, we haven’t had a shot yet, but we aren’t losing!
The spirited performance saw us only concede in the last 10 minutes, the second goal coming after we had to push forward to try and get an equaliser and a trip to London. But we just weren’t good enough. One shot all game and it fell to Lilian Nalis in the penalty box from a wide free-kick, no one near him and he hits the tamest volley I’ve ever seen. Oh well.
It’s not like the league games are any easier. Southampton currently top of the pile are our next opponents.
The transfer window is officially shut. I did look for a Buszaky replacement, but we have no money and there was no one around I really could get. Carey it is.
The interesting one in the Premier League is Joe Cole to Man United.
Up next then, the Southampton game. We go into it unchanged from the Arsenal match. If we can keep Arsenal quiet for 80 minutes, Southampton should be no problem.
But no, on 24 minutes we concede a headed goal. Questionable goalkeeping I hate to say.
I throw Stephen Dobbie on around 75 minutes in pure desperation.
He actually scrambles the ball home on 82 minutes to level the scores and becomes a hero.
Well in an ideal world, he would have been a hero. Leon Best runs up the other end in the dying minutes of game and scores. Again, I hate to say it. Questionable keeping from Romain. His up and down season continues.
To be honest with you, I didn’t even notice David Prutton get sent off in stoppage time. But apparently that happened. I was already down the tunnel.
We are living live on the edge of the play-offs. Can’t afford complacency at this stage.
No easy games in the Championship.
Luke McCormick is back in goal, I’m sorry Ro. Doumbe is out with Covid the Flu so Timar is back in.
Lovely technique from Paul Gallagher to score his first goal of the season.
Home Park becoming a fortress.
Elland Road awaits the Green Army.
Gallagher starts after his match-winning heroics last time out.
A story in 3 parts.
Not often you see the keeper being tackled. But what a welcome sight it was to get us the point.
What a way to end your goal drought too for SEB.
I was so close to dropping him for Stephen Dobbie, Barry Hayles or Nick Chadwick. Hell, even a teenage Reuben Reid was an option.
Our friends QPR up next. Gallen captains the Rangers, with unknown striker Baidoo partnering him upfront.
According to Wikipedia, our opposition striker is now a rapper who goes by the name ‘Terminator’.
This time, I’m the one travelling back in time to stop the Terminator.
Gallen decided to celebrate in front of the green army that he should actually be playing for in this point of time in real life.
Anyone else confused?
Anyway, its 1-0 to QPR.
That’s Scott Sinclair running over to give the QPR fans some stick after scoring to put us 2-1 up in the last five minutes.
The very fans he would be playing for in real life just 6 months down the line.
Timelines.
The goal sparked a mad 5 minutes that saw, Hasney Aljofree curl a free-kick in and the ‘Terminator’ actually score on 89 minutes. To cut the lead back to 3-2 to the greens. Ebanks-Blake restored our 2 goal advantage in the SEVENTH minute of stoppage time. But who can be surprised when Gareth Ainsworth is on the pitch.
I still can’t believe Shabazz ‘Terminator’ Baidoo scored against me.
Top of the table Baggies.
I told you, no easy games in this league.
The merry-go round that is our right wing continues, with Scott Sinclair back in after scoring from the bench. A goal from Gallagher in the same circumstances will earn him the spot next week.
We know they are dangerous. But this is Home Park. Let’s go.
Norris with the ball out wide after our corner broke down. Guess which Argyle player scores.
Spoiler alert, it’s the one not even looking in the right direction.
Floated over everyone, this time Paul Wotton is facing goal. And well, you know what’s coming next.
The ball doesn’t even hit the floor. On the full. Only one outcome. Goal.
I’m ecstatic.
If we didn’t draw so many of those games 1-1 we could be within touching distance of automatics! But we are as high as 4th, very happy.
Oh what’s that? You beat 1st place? Have a go at 2nd.
Here I am again, detailing another Paul Wotton Screamer. One of his best yet to level the scores 1-1.
Norris with the ball as we counter a Birmingham corner.
Wow. It’s Paul again.
Funny thing is. 1. We aren’t winning. 2. It’s not even been half an hour.
For the hat-trick and to equalise.
Careful Paul, one of them might run on and punch you.
Wotton hits 10 goals this season.
That was only one half?
Oh.
The former Argyle centre back alliance.
Purse isn’t even starting.
Super Luke taking a free-kick this wide and deep in our own half. What could possibly go wrong?
A goal from the centre circle, that’s what.
Luke makes up for that error later in the game – Launching the ball with a mighty kick over the top of the defence.
That Sylvain Ebanks-Blake get’s on the end of to secure his hat-trick.
Here he is getting his 4th goal of the game.
Remarkably he isn’t the only player to do that today in the Championship. Darren Huckerby with 4 away goals.
7 goals in one month for Sylvan. It was only the other week he was going to be dropped.
15 goals for the season so far.
We opened March with a routine 1-0 win over Southend.
9 games left. 10 points off the automatics. Our best hope is just to keep carrying on and secure play-offs.
Now I am really under pressure.
