Murphy's Law

Scunthorpe 1 (Morris 54) - 0 Plymouth Argyle

Before the game this was looking like a must win in order to maintain chances of a playoff place, however the league position has not shifted thankfully, but it puts strain on the remaining games. Even if luck was on the Greens' side with regards to the league, it certain,y failed to turn up at Glanford Park in one of the most frustrating games of the season.

Sturrock put out a much changes line up due to suspensions and resting players - in came Hodges, Clark and Mackie along with Seip to cover Timar. However they were unable to weather the storms - that of the high gales and Scunthorpe's attack. In what is becoming and Argyle speciality there were lots of near misses, including one by Fallon which went inches wide right at the end. But Argyle's troubles didn't end there - they had a goal disallowed during the first half, countless refereeing decisions against them, and climaxed with the dismissal of McCormick for handball. With no spare keeper, Hodges had to migrate between the sticks and, as always, pulled off a surprisingly good display including saving the free kick awarded for Luke's dismissal.

It was only so long that the Pilgrims could ride their luck with such disjointed play, and now at crunch time its coming back to haunt them. The last 2 performances are not worthy of a top 5 finish, however they are still sitting just outside the zone. But the spark that has gone missing from the team needs to be reignited. There are a lot of problems with fielding a team this Saturday - especially as Argyle are now goalkeeperless with Larrieu out long term and the only other keeper, Saxon, unproved in any division.