"The flag's at half mast"

A throw-away comment made by one of my (more senior) friends when discussing yesterday's 1-0 defeat against Birmingham.

Traditionally, flying a flag at half staff^[1] is a mark of respect or mourning, and, yes, we maybe should be mourning the loss of 3 points – 5 including the Ipswich draw – for the final scores were not warranted after the football displayed by Argyle.

Steve Bruce [Birmingham Manager] said to the BBC …“But overall Plymouth can feel that they have been harshly done by that they have not got something out of the game.”… and I think that most of the Green Army feel the same. Argyle bossed two teams around Home Park, controlling the game for most of the 90 minutes, but for a sloppy 1st minute against Ipswich and poor defending against 1 of Birmingham’s 4 corners.

With statistics like 9:4 shots on target, 7:4 corners (Argyle:Brum) and 12:1, 12:13 respectively (Argyle:Ipswich), it’s not like we’re not setting up chances. Just for some reason those chances aren’t being converted. This season Argyle have racked up 108 corners, where would we be if just 1/5 of those (let alone all!) had been converted into goals?

But then again, aren’t we taking things too far? So far Argyle have played 16, won 6, drawn 7 and lost 3 and are 7th in the table. Yes, lost 3 – out of 16. Put that way, a defeat against a million-pound squad is nothing to get het up about.

Anyway, it’s only a month before we invade St Andrews and give ‘em the hiding they should have got.

^[1]"Half mast" is really only related to naval terminology - like the Union Jack (who said blogs weren't educational?)