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Search forArgyle Viewpoint with Rupert Metcalf
Monday, October 06, 2008, 09:43
When September’s international interruption intruded on the Coca-Cola Championship programme, the Pilgrims were in 21st position in the divisional rankings. After they had been beaten at home by Norwich City in the first game after the break, they were in 24th and last place.
The only way was up, and that is the route they have taken. After Saturday’s 4-0 home win over Sheffield Wednesday, they occupy fifth spot in the Championship – and that is where they will stay until they return to Championship action at Derby County in 12 days’ time.
Argyle, at present, are in one of the division’s promotion play-offs places, but it might be best not to get too excited. The season is only ten games old, and the table is very congested. The Pilgrims are only three points better off than 18th-placed Crystal Palace. Teams can go down the standings just as quickly as they can go up, in such circumstances.
Nevertheless, the Devon club’s players deserve considerable credit for what they have achieved in the last three weeks – and so does manager Paul Sturrock.
It could be claimed that the Scotsman put his reputation on the line after the loss to Norwich last month. That was Argyle’s second home defeat in a row and, as had been the case against Swansea City in August, the Pilgrims had been poor against the Canaries. Very poor.
If Plymouth’s results had not picked up, Sturrock’s job might have been in jeopardy. Even a manager who has achieved as many promotion successes as he has done this decade could have found himself in a difficult situation, if the defeats had kept on coming.
Sturrock knew that. His comments after the loss to Norwich included references to that possibility. He responded to challenge in a bold way – and it worked.
The Scotsman made seven changes to his team when they next took to the field, at Watford three days later, and he was rewarded with a first win of the season. Argyle have not looked back. They have gone on to take 13 of the last 15 points available to them.
If Sturrock’s stack of team changes had backfired that night at Vicarage Road, and the Pilgrims had been as clueless against the Hornets as they had been against Norwich and Swansea, their manager would have taken much of the blame for such a risky gamble. But the reshuffle paid off. The revival started that evening in Hertfordshire, and it has continued since then.
New favourites have emerged. Paul Gallagher has given Argyle a taste of genuine top-flight class in attack. Craig Cathcart, who had never played a competitive first-team game in English football until he came to Home Park from Manchester United, has been reassuringly impressive in central defence. Chris Barker has been increasingly solid at left-back.
Some of the survivors from last season’s squad have also risen to the challenge. Rory Fallon is looking like a target man – and a goalscorer – of real stature. Jamie Mackie has turned himself from non-League striker to Championship winger in some style. Marcel Seip has been outstanding alongside Cathcart in the middle of the rearguard.
Arguably Argyle’s most consistent player all season so far, however, is one of the few who survived the wielding of the axe after the defeat to Norwich. Chris Clark was one of the players signed in a hurry by Sturrock in January this year, and it took him time to show the Pilgrims’ fans what he was capable of on a consistent basis.
Clark could not settle into the Argyle side in any position last term, and he was tried in a few, but this season he has been a regular on the left of midfield – and he has thrived. He was excellent against Sheffield Wednesday on Saturday, when his work-rate was prodigious and his use of the ball was praiseworthy too.
The former Aberdeen man put in a splendid shift, and was still charging up and down the field on his team’s behalf until the closing stages, when he limped off with a dead leg which will not jeopardise his chances of playing at Pride Park when the Pilgrims return to Championship business. Clark has indeed come good – and, once again, Sturrock’s judgement has been shown to be sound.
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