Well, well, not only do we bag the first win of the season but also win by 2 clear for the first time since we played at The Racecourse...Oh and we played well.

Although I was not in attendance, the reports I had back from
Deepdale on Saturday were encouraging. This meant that with just the enforced change of Gary Hart for Jason Dodd, I was pleased Mark McGhee kept the same team. At Preston there was apparently a vibe of it starting to come together. This has been highlighted today by our obvious improvement in defence as PNE gave Ipswich a good hammering at Portman Road.

Now, if things were beginning to gel against the Lilywhites on
Saturday then they certainly clicked into gear today. But as well as we played we should not take anything away from Plymouth's part in proceedings...They were bloody rubbish to put it simply. There have been rumblings of discontent coming out of Home Park and that would have been turned up a notch or 2 as they failed to beat a 10 man Hull City team on Saturday and at home.

Some of their passing was rather familiar as it reminded me of
performances we have been known to put in on more than 1 occasion. This amounted to them rarely giving us problems but when they did carve out their limited openings they decided to waste them in rather limp fashion. Have you ever seen a team drag so many shots wide as Argyle did today?

They barely made Wayne Henderson work and when they did they stuck their efforts staight at him. The most notable of these was Taribo West's header well into the second half. When Henderson was called on for to make a diving save (in the first half) the lino had already flagged for offside.

But in the first few minutes or so the Pilgrims looked fairly
composed and gave no indication that they were going to spend the remainging 87 or minutes being so inept. This was probably because we had not got going in that time, but when we did it was a joy to watch.

Leon Knight and Jake Robinson were zipping around and were given quality support from Albert Jarrett and Sebastien Carole. With the ball on the deck we had Plymouth pulled all over the place chasing shadows. It was looking good and we had real rythm about us and at times and it was captivating stuff.

Then on 11 mintues Knight played a clever flick to Robinson which
set him clear. As Jake raced towards goal he slipped the ball past Larrieu and it trickled off goal-bound. Rufus Brevett tried in vain to get back to slide in and clear the ball but all he did was help it in the net.

Brevett, who along with Taribo West formed the comedy duo of the Plymouth defence. The pair of them were terrible. I know they did not cost much in fees but I bet they are on decent wages and if these are the performances they are turning in it is no wonder the Home Park faithful are far from happy.

Jake who must have been buzzing from his goal was ace. He chased every ball and put defenders under pressure. This, I believe is not something we see enough as it works on different levels. It can be psychological for if a defender is closed down then the next time he has the ball at his feet the first thought he is going to have is: 'Will that striker be onto me again'. If he looks up and sees the forward again then he really will be worried and everytime he has the ball he will look to get rid as soon as he can. This can lead to mistakes which the attacking team can benefit from. Robinson did this well today and reminded me of when Gary Hart first joined and he went after every lost cause. Anyone who was at the Gay Meadow a few years back when we were in our record breaking 5 game away victory run will remember Hart chasing the keeper out to the corner-flag and winning the ball. He in turn fed it to Richie Barker who scored.

Anyway, I digress...As for Gary himself, he coped very well at
right-back with a unique style of defending. Instead of putting in tackles he just got up close and personal and was just bumping the opposition. Strange considering when he plays in midfield or up-front he has been known to put in some rather wild sliding tackles. But he played well and maybe his days of chasing down the defenders are behind him now. But it was exactly that which helped us fashion out next chance.

This time it was Leon who managed to rob Larrieu but credit to the goalie as he got himself back to block Knight's shot. But following this the game decided to have a 10 minute lull as nothing much happened. But for this we still maintained a grip on the game especially as the midfield was functioning much better. As much as I respect what Charlie Oatway brings to the team in terms of team spirit, etc I have to say the central midfield pairing looked good without him in it. Hammond has a good reading of the game and has the added bonus of being able to teleport into the area to win headers. Also both he and Chippie are more than competent in the tackle and can use the ball when they have it.

Now, one player who is impressing everytime I see him is Carole. His movment, dribbling and creativity is first class. You get the felling that when he is on the ball things will happen. Watching him completely outstrip Brevett for pace was quality and if his first touch was not a tad too hard he probably would have netted his first goal as Larrieu was able to collect.

But it was Sebastien who helped pull us out of the 10 minute quiet period to help our performance up a gear or so. For the next 10-15 minutes we were rampant. We had the Argyle defence all over the place with our movment and pace and were creating some decent chances. Jarrett had a looping shot saved and Romain did just as well to keep out a fierce shot from Carpenter. Larrieu was eventually beaten again when Knight rose to meet a Carole looping cross but unfortunately the ball came back off the post and was cleared.

Knight was in the thick of the action once again for our next effort
as he met a Jarrett (I think) cross with a venomous right foot volley. Sadly it was straight at Romain Larrieu in the Plilgrims goal and he produced an instinctive block to push the ball up and away for a corner. We seemed to force an endless supply of corners during this period but other than when one developed into a minor scramble we really did not make them count.

As the half was drawing to a close we allowed Plymouth to come onto us as we appeared to take our foot off the gas. But we needn't have worried as other than a shot over the bar and a cross that flashed across the goal they were no threat.

Half-time was great as we got to reflect on excitement we had just seen. But then came the concern as to how we were going to come out for the second half. Would we not have the same fluency?...Would Argyle be more fired up? These questions were answered within a minute into the re-start.

Albert Jarrett got the ball on right wing and raced on. He was having a superb game and has done well to work his way back into the team. Jarrett was in the wilderness but this shows that if you graft hard and listen to what the manager says you can earn you recall to the team. As he flew down the wing he had the beating of his full-back and cut back from the bye-line. This cross did not find an Albion forward but was deflected out to the edge of the penalty area and the advancing Richard Carpenter. His first time shot rocketed into the top corner to give us the perfect start to the second half.

This helped settle any nerves that there may have been on the
terraces and boosted the confidence of team. This also meant the Pilgrims would have to come at us leaving gaps at the back. Plymouth did come forward more but other than the West header that Henderson caught easily and a couple of simple routine gatherings that he had to make I am struggling to think of any dangerous chances they had. Although they did try their luck from distance on a number of occasions none of these shots went anywhere near the goal.

But as they pushed forward they were exposed at the back which is the last thing the remaining defenders needed with the way in which we were attacking them. The increased space was being exploited on a regular basis as we cut through them. Both Jake and Leon skipped through them only to have left foot shots blocked.

Knight also found himself clear but as he was being caught up by a Plymouth defender he tried to cut it back onto his right foot and this resulted in him losing space and putting in a tame effort...A little fustrating as Sebastien was well placed to his right. Carole was again causing problems and we narrowly missed out on converting some of his crosses.

We continue to force home our superiority as Robinson fired a
first-time volley over the bar when he had time in the area. Knight once more had a chance when he again cut in from the right tried to curl the ball high and around the goalie into the top corner...But reminiscent of a similar chance last season the ball sailed out for a goal-kick.

With Jarrett running himself into the ground he appeared to suffer
from cramp. He was replaced on 78 minutes by Colin Kazim-Richards. This included the shake-up of having Carole take Albert's place on the right, Robinson coming onto the left flank and CKR partnering Leon up front. I was saying after Shrewsbury that needed to be dropped. He arrived amid a fanfare and although he has undoubted potential the fact he hasn't scored would start to put pressure on someone who is only 18. Leaving him from the team so to allow him to take stock and have a breather shows once again McGhee's man management skills. When Kazim-Richards came on he was hungry and full of movment and he fitted into the groove easily as he also began causing problems...Oh yeah, he was fouled as normal as well.

The only surpise so far was that we had not added a thrird but
should have been the perfect opportunity to do so in the form of a penalty. Well, it should have been a penalty as Leon had the ball and was taking the piss out of Taribo a bit. As Knight was doing step-overs West completely misjudged and swept Leon's feet from under him and dumped him on the turf. Amazingly neither the ref nor the lino saw nothing wrong with that. What as
surprising was that the lino was flagging for everything so he really did not need a better excuse to raise his flag.

The last real moment to report on was the substitution of Jake
Robinson who was replaced by Dean Cox. Dean was, like the rest, lively and tricky and another prospect for the future.

With the first win under our belts it is a mighty relief but much
like last season when we start to gain a bit of momentum we have the international break. Not that I am moaning as this gives me trips to Cardiff and Belfast to look forward too.

The only slight on the performance was that we really should have buried Plymouth and even could have been out of sight by half-time, but hey, I am not complaining. We do have to remember though that Argyle were poor but we really did play well. All games will not be this easy but if we can build on this performance and keep it settled then I think we may even start
giving the top teams some real problems...Bring them on...

Albion & England forever.

Thimble Keegan
Worthing BHA