Argyle Give 3 Points Away

Plymouth Argyle lose to stoke City away after having what looked to be a comfortable lead.



Once again for the second weekend in a row what should have been three points were taken from us. Argyle were up for this encounter after coming away from Loftus road with 3 well earned points during the week and looking like our traveling exploits were going to throw up more success. Ian Holloway opted for a few tactical changes in the starting 11 including some height up front in the form of Chadwick and Fallon, presumably to try and open up the usually defensive tactics of Mr Pulis, who as we all know has been known to sit back on occasion.



The opening minutes of the game saw a very Argyle orientated run of play with very little sign of stoke getting near the ball let alone putting it in the back of the net, then however came the bolt from the blue, some rebounding around in the Argyle box and McCormick appearing not to come out for the ball meant that Marcel Seip was left on the line to head out and instead he headed in. An own goal after 10 minutes is not the ideal start to any game, and it has to be said the team looked to be reflecting on this.



When you take a knock it can be hard to pick yourself back up again and the first half seemed to reflect this, a rather tedious display seemed to unravel itself for the following 37 minutes in which neither team really looked to make anything more than a half hearted chance, the height of Rory Fallon would have been useful if he worked out how to use it and although a few chances passed, Argyle really didn`t look like scoring or conceding.



The second half however appeared to be a whole different story, Ian Holloway had obviously chosen a few well constructed words in the dressing room as the green shirts came out on a mission. Again the run of play seemed to go in the favour of Plymouth who wanted to get themselves back in this. Less than 10 minutes into the first half that chance came when Seip decided to redeem himself with a header into the same net he had put us behind in. 52 minutes in and scores were tied, so with the following minutes seeing a barrage of attacking plays from Argyle it was only a matter of time before one went in, Fallon missed what can only be described as an absolute gift on 54 minutes only to get his dues 5 minutes later when he got on the end of a Halmosi header and bundled the ball in past the stoke keeper.



With the possession and the general flow of play in favour of Argyle things were looking good for the visitors, however an absolute blunder by McCormick who failed to get anywhere near a long throw from Delap left Lawrence free to slot one in at the back post for the equalizer. As you are aware it didn`t end there, Ian Holloway determined to get back in front decided to change the pace a little and both front men were replaced for the more familiar pairing of Barry Hayles and Sylvan Ebanks-Blake. The tactic did change the shape of play however it was not one of the Argyle strikers who would finish this game off, when Fuller took advantage of what seemed to be an offside position to break on the left, McCormick was unable to effectively close in on him and was lobbed only to watch the ball float into the open net behind him. 3-2 to stoke and a rather sickening loss of what should have been three points.



Now I always like to reflect after a match report and today will be no different. Firstly, we need to address the issue of goal keeping in the squad as over the last few matches it has been awful, in fact the goal keeping over the last few weeks has cost us games. Secondly I would like to see Fallon doing some more work to improve his finishing in front of goal, he is a big lad and could be useful, however I dont see it just yet.

On the positive side when we are attacking we are playing some great football and it is a great foundation to work on, we are actually getting into the lead so now we need to work on keeping it.