Given their location, it’s an easy assumption to make that Plymouth Argyle are strong at Home Park because nearly all of the visiting sides have had to make a long, boring and sometimes uncomfortable journey before they even get to kick a ball. Conversely, if they are to be successful, Plymouth need to have to overcome similar type problems when they play away if they are going to make their good home results the basis for a successful season.
I daresay there have been plenty of seasons where the above has applied and so the foundation for the “strong at home and weak away” cliche has been laid down the decades. However, one season where things haven’t worked out so conveniently is 25/26 and, although Plymouth’s momentum is currently upwards, things have got so bad/good this season that it’s virtually impossible to see how things could return to what i’ll call normal in the relatively short time the season has left.
City still stand at the top of the League One away table, but Plymouth are in third position having won more games (eight) and scored more goals (twenty seven) than anyone else. In total contrast, only rock bottom Port Vale are below Argyle in the home table and they are the only side to match the Pilgrims’ eight home losses, while only Blackpool have conceded more home goals than them.
Plymouth really are the most bonkers side in League One this season. To be fair, they were given a very testing start to the season which saw their first three away matches being at Bolton, Lincoln and Cardiff and, with five losses in their first six games, too much damage had been done already to make the expected concerted promotion challenge a reality.
Those first three away games were lost with nine goals conceded, so it can be seen that Plymouth have been superb on the road since then, but, stubbornly, results at Home Park have refused to improve to the extent that it would take a brilliant finish to their season to see them scrape into the top six now.
I can’t begin to explain how Plymouth followed their 4-0 loss here up with a 4-2 home win over Stockport, how they went to Luton, won 3-2, then lost 1-0 at home to a Peterborough team which was struggling badly at the time, how they won 4-0 at Burton next and then picked up just one point in. their next five matches! A run of four straight losses was ended with a 1-0 win at Port Vale, but then they lost their next match 3-0 at home to Northampton and shortly after that, they were 5-1 winners at Doncaster only to lose 4-1 in front of their own fans to Reading a week later. Plymouth had improved since then at home with a run of seven points from three games, but they then lost 4-1 to Lincoln in their last match at Home Park only to then score seven times in winning two away games!
Therefore, although Plymouth are in the midst of their best run of the season with only two losses in their last ten league games, I still can’t help thinking they’d be more of a threat to our twelve game unbeaten run if we were playing them at Cardiff City Stadium, rather than Home Park.
What I would say is that Plymouth’s current form probably means that there could have been much better times during the season for us to be going there, but, then again, we’re scoring goals for fun and have acquired a habit that we didn’t have for much of the campaign – that is, the ability to win games comfortably. I suppose the sensible way to look at it is to say a draw is the most likely outcome, but, then again, for better or worse, Plymouth have hardly been s side to stick to what’s expected of them this season!
On to the quiz then with the answers to the seven questions being posted on here on Sunday.
60s. This forward’s career was defined by a controversial incident in what was probably considered to be domestic football’s show case occasion at the time and it tends to overshadow the fact that he must have been some player. Beginning with Railwaymen close to home, he was snapped up at eighteen by one of the traditional big names of the English game and he went on to make close to 300 league appearances for them while picking up three winner’s medals along the way. A move to a team close by which had entered a period of decline after having been the best around didn’t really work and he was getting close to the veteran stage when he moved on to Plymouth for a season where he maintained a vary good scoring rate. After that, he had a couple of spells with non league Faithful and spent time playing for clubs on either side of the Atlantic, but can you name him?
70s. This Londoner represented six different clubs from the capital during a nomadic sixteen year playing career in which he was usually to be found in the lower divisions. Despite only playing fourteen league games in his three years at Plymouth during this decade, he was signed by a former Argyle manager to play in the First Division for a team that had begun the decade recognised as one of the strongest sides in the country.He made most appearances for a London side that had spent much of their early history as nomads, but have settled down during my lifetime and was, arguably, better known for what he did in his job after his playing days ended than he was as a footballer. His one, brief, experience of football management was ended by the FA who deemed that his part time management of a non league club represented a conflict of interest with his day job so to speak. He has also done some media work on another sport, but who is he?
80s.Splash my cash in a trance and end up with a player City fans weren’t too keen on! (4,8)
90s. Flat fish interaction with island created by underwater volcano eruption perhaps?
00s. Purloin central African country and venue in north Scotland by the sound of it!
10s. He scored for a League One promotion challenging team this week and was nicknamed “the Manchester Messi” when he played for Plymouth during this decade, who is he?
20. Antipodean assistant meets brothers with split ends once who are now living in a crammed residence!
Answers
60s. Peter McParland is best remembered for the controversial goal he scored early on in the 1957 FA Cup Final when he barged into Manchester United goalkeeper Ron Wood. Shoulder charging was legal in those days, but Wood was left unconscious and with a broken jaw. McParland’s team, Aston Villa, took advantage of having a man more in those pre substitute days and he scored the two goals by which they won the game. McParland, who also represented Northern Ireland in the 1958 World Cup, won Second Division Championship and League Cup winners medals with Villa before signing for Wolves in 1962 and then Plymouth a year later. Dropping into non League football he had two spells with Worcester City as well as playing in Canada and the USA.
70s. Barry Silkman played over a hundred league games for Leyton Orient in. a long career which include a spell at Manchester City under Malcolm Allison’s management. Silkman became one of the most famous agents in the game and this led to him being told to discontinue his management of Staines Town because of a potential clash of interests. Silkman has also worked as a presenter on Racing Post Greyhound TV.
80s. Sean McCarthy.
90s. Ray Newland.
00s.Nick Chadwick.
10s. Antoni Sarcavic scored the only goal in Bradford’s 1-0 win over Stockport on Tuesday..
20s. Tegan Finn – Tegan was an Australian assistant to Doctor Who in the early eighties and the Finn brothers were members of New Zealand band Split Enz and later Crowded House.
