Home Park Misery

After four years of terrible results at home Plymouth Argyle fans are now suffering another season of misery at Home Park.

Argyle have now lost four of their eight league games at home this season with the latest defeat coming against Burton Albion last night. Carl Fletcher’s side have managed just two home wins and two draws this season with the latest poor results at Home Park a continuation of the last four years.

Aside from the obvious financial problems it is the poor form at home that has led to what is now becoming five seasons of woe with the Greens losing nearly half of the 100 league games played at Home Park.
The Greens have lost a huge 45% of home games during the last four and a bit seasons and won just 29%!

Put simply, Home Park is no longer a fortress; it’s more akin to a sand castle!

Gone are the days when opposition teams would dread coming all the way down to Plymouth; not many players would relish the trip down the A38 to play Argyle but teams are now better prepared with several clubs staying overnight before the game.

If we want some degree of success we need to start winning more games at home, that much is obvious.

Our home record since 2008 has been poor:

Argyle had a narrow escape in the 2008-2009 season when relegation from the Championship was avoided – just! The home form for that season was grim and a sign of things to come, from the 23 home games we won just seven, drew five and lost 11, with a goal ratio of scored 31 and conceded 35.

The following season Argyle did get relegated from the Championship and again the poor home form was very suspect.
Argyle won just five games, drew six and lost a whopping 12 games. We only scored 20 goals and conceded 30.

In season 2010-2011 a 10-point deduction ultimately cost us a relegation place in League One but even then Home Park was a soft touch for visiting teams; Argyle won nine games, drew four and lost ten, scoring 27 goals and letting in 33.

Last season there were special circumstances behind Argyle’s poor home form; the club was in administration at the start of the campaign and was forced to field young and inexperienced players but eventually Home Park witnessed another dismal record with just six games won, nine games drawn and eight games lost.
We did manage to hit the back of the net 23 times but the opposition bettered that by three goals.

This season the Greens have played eight league games at home, winning two, drawing two and losing four, scoring 11 goals and conceding 14.

To sum up the last four and a bit seasons The Pilgrims have lost nearly half of their 100 league games played at Home Park, winning just 29 (29%), drawing 26 (26%) and losing a mammoth 45 (45%) games with a goal ratio of 112 scored and 138 conceded.

That equates to 113 points won at home from the 300 on offer.

How much longer do we have to suffer this misery?