Pilgrims sink Notts

Last updated : 29 December 2002 By Rob Davies

Getting up at 8am and being out of the house by 8.45 am is not exactly my cup of tea. But if you are sad enough to make the 540 mile round trip down to Plymouth then that is what you have to do!

The journey went by pretty quickly and we arrived in Plymouth at 12.30 to glorious, warm (I’m not kidding) sunshine.

Surprised at arriving so early, we had some time to kill before the turnstiles opened so we took a walk around Home Park, which has

Redeveloped their ground
been recently redeveloped to acquire a more modern appearance.

We spent a few minutes talking to a couple of the local Argyle fans about how Plymouth and Notts were fairing so far this season.

The conversation ended with "I’ll be thinking of you at 10 to 5!" I just wonder what they are thinking now? Well, for starters they must be happier than me – at least their team won!

The match was started by Joe Ross, the disgraceful referee from the Bournemouth fixture last season. During the warm up he received boos and shouts from the Notts fans as he ran past. I can assure you he won’t be forgotten for a long time yet! He wasn’t as bad as last season but still made some strange decisions at times – mostly for Plymouth this time.

Plymouth were a strong team. They were sharp and gave Notts, playing in their away shirts and home strip shorts, little time on the ball, which obviously limits how much effective you can be with it.

Despite that County matched the Pilgrims for the first half. There was some good build up play from Notts and we troubled the Green’s

Went close with a header
defence on a few occasions but never really got close enough to make Pilgrim’s goalkeeper, Romian Larrieu work.

The one time we did go close, Tony Hackworth headed a Richard Liburd (donning an Afro!) cross goalwards but Larrieu was there to save.

Much was made before the game, of the fact that Notts hadn’t lost away to Plymouth in the last 6 visits – that run stretch back to 1958.

Somehow, deep down, you just had a feeling that Notts were never going to get a goal. Hackworth, Notts’ lone striker for much of the game, worked hard but didn’t possess the pace to get past the Pilgrim’s defence.

HALF TIME: 0-0

The second half began the same as the first but Plymouth soon started to gradually get on top of the much-depleted Notts side. Jupp, Fenton, Allsopp, Stallard and Heffernan were all missing from the squad.

Wotton - supplied the corner to put Greens in front
Plymouth were denied shortly after halftime when their free kick on the edge of the magpie’s box was fired straight at the wall.

The home side finally got the winning goal on 61 minutes. A second consecutive corner was swung in from the Plymouth left and Hasney Aljofree was able to head the corner in from 6 yards.

Notts plodded on right to the end trying to force their way through the Green’s defence. Cas was brought on to play up front but couldn’t create any major chances.

Liburd was taken off before the end of the game with potential ligament damage, which could keep him out for some time.

FULL TIME: 1-0 to Plymouth.

Plymouth deserved to win on the number of decent chances created.

Did well with resources
Dearden did well with the tactics and considering the amount of resources he had available to him the team he sent out performed well in the first half. We struggled with the lack of pace up front and couldn’t keep defending for the whole game without really conceding.