< – Part 1 – Introduction 
< – Part 2 – Season Kicks off
< – Part 3 – September Games
< – Part 4 – Unbeaten October

It’s part 5, and we are already flying through the games heading into November.

We expected to find ourselves in a tough relegation battle but sit comfortably in the play-offs. But there is a huge amount of football to be played so lets not start getting comfortable.

One man who won’t be involved for our next few games is the injury prone Jamie Ness.

More plaudits for our players with Gary Sawyer this time making the team of the week.

And it’s good reading for Tafari Moore who was recognised as one of the young players of the month. If only that was the case for him in real life…

Sunderland are our first opponents. A very good squad. But you would expect that with former premier league players earning £30k a week in league one. ( 10x more than our best paid player )

But it’s Argyle who sit higher in the league at the moment. The Mackems poor early form seems to have come to an end as they have won their last 4 games.

With David Fox suspended and Jamie Ness injured, it’s Conor Grant who get’s a start. Our best player and highest goal scorer has to shift to a more defensive role today.

Up front for Sunderland, former Argyle academy player Sam Gallagher on loan from Southampton.

It was Argyle who took the lead with a simple ball over the top from Sarcevic and Kaylen Hinds finishes the one-on-one. The game said the keeper came out too early and was at fault.

But then we conceded our first goal from the six-yard box for todays update. A free-kick lumped in and a looping header back into the far post.

1-1.

Then came one of the best goalkeeping displays from Sunderlands number one.

It was world class save

after save

after save.

Half-time.

We had so many shots, but we just couldn’t get past the keeper. And that remained the case for all of the second half.

Sunderland got an undeserved winner on the 70th minute mark and it just wasn’t our day.

We battered them, just couldn’t score and they made the most of their chances.

Somehow Jon McLaughlin didn’t get man of the match with his incredible 15 saves!

And thus ended our unbeaten run. 

FA Cup action next away to Accrington. Fox back from suspension the only change. No weakened team for the cup, I wanted to be in that 2nd round draw.

It was our turn to grind out a result that we didn’t really deserve. A replay it is.

Non-league Barnet in the second round gives us all the motivation we need to get a result in the replay for a somewhat easy route into the 3rd round. Luckily we negotiated that Alex Fletcher who is on loan at Barnet cannot play against us. Could have been embarassing if he knocked us out

.

One competition that I’m more than happy to knocked out of though is the Checkatrade trophy.

An incredible performance from Fulham under-21’s beat our second string side. Tammy Abraham’s brother Timmy Abraham ( yes, really) scored two as we eventually lost 3-2.

But back to the real football.

ha.

It was time to see if we had learnt anything from Argyle’s recent 5-1 loss at Luton, as we traveled virtually their ourselves for our next league game.

No, no we didn’t.

Just like Derek, we couldn’t handle the diamond. We didn’t deserve to score. It could easily have finished 5-1.

The FA Cup replay back at Home Park.

Joel Grant and Tafari Moore back off to Jamaica again so Riley comes in and we drop Sarcevic for Callum Gribbin to get some more fitness and provide some more support in attack. We can get in behind a 4-4-2 easily with this team.

And it will be us who play Barnet in the second round. Stuart O’Keefe scoring screamers again.

O’Keefe still leads the team for goals and performances.

Fleetwood. Tafari Moore back. Gribbin deserves to stay in the team.

A draw will do.

ha ha ha. Unemployed Derek Adams not in the running for any of these apparently.

Shrewsbury away for our 3rd consecutive Tuesday night game this month.

And what a game this was. 1-0 down at half-time we get a goal back in the second half with Ryan Edwards first goal of the season. He should be getting more from set pieces. But just 2 minutes later former Argyle player Ollie Norburn scores a screamer to put them back ahead.

10 minutes later we equalise with a Man City esque goal with the Jamaican boys linking up. Tafari Moore to the byline, cuts it back across goal for Grant to tap in. 2-2.

And then we take the lead 10 minutes later with a comical goal from Ruben Lamieras which rightly so makes it todays ‘Goal of the Episode’

Carey whipped in, Ruben has a shot, saved but then bounces straight back off him and in the net. How much he knew about it we will never know but the comeback was complete.

Our recent form saw us dip out of the play-offs but we are still very much up there.

I promised Ashley Smith-Brown he would play more so him and Freddie Ladapo both start in the FA Cup to Barnet. They are two leagues below us, but anything can happen.

But obviously we hammer them and I’m so glad to see Freddie score after that nasty injury. A nice free-kick from C.Grant tied it up. The 3rd round! Man United away? City? Liverpool again??

ah.

There you go Ashley Smith-Brown can you please stop whining about not playing, You have 6 weeks to prove how good you are with Sawyer getting an injury.

Lionel Ainsworth also gets injured ( yes, he’s still here ). I try to pay off his contract, but after I saw it would cost £30k I decided against it.

I’ve spoken to both him and Gregg Wylde and they are actively seeking transfers in January. I need their wages for some new players.

And there we are, still in the top 10 after 20 games.

After a tough start to November, we are starting to turn it back around again.

See you next time as we get closer and closer to the January transfer window. What do we need?

 

An Argyle Journey is published every Wednesday & Sunday. Get involved in the discussion on PASOTI, and by using the hashtag #ArgyleLifeFM19.