Plymouth Argyle dropped back into the bottom two of League 2 after being beaten 0 – 1 at Home Park by play-off chasing Gillingham after a run of five games undefeated. While Dagenham & Redbridge and Hereford were both victorious, both teams leapfrogging Argyle this afternoon!
From the stats, it looks like Argyle had the better of the game but it’s the final score that counts. Argyle were defeated by Joe Martin’s 35 yard wonder strike in the 23rd minute. Plymouth had plenty of shots on goal but couldn’t get the ball over the line, Alex MacDonald saw his shot rattle the crossbar, it just wasn’t to be for Argyle, but let’s not dwell on it and look to the future!
Losing today is a bitter blow to Argyle’s league survival hopes, I just hope that the Pilgrims can bounce back from this defeat after going five games undefeated. I predicted this relegation battle would be tough, the bottom five teams are fighting for their lives. Plymouth have the talent to remain a Football League club, let’s hope heads don’t drop or else we are dead in the water!
Liverpool were also defeated today despite being the better team. Laurent Koscielny conceded an own goal from Jordan Henderson’s cross into the box to put the Reds into the lead in the 23rd minute but a Robin van Persie double strike, one in the 31st minute and the second two minutes into second half added time condemned the Merseysiders to a 1 – 2 defeat, a bitter defeat after the weekends Carling Cup triumph, but there was a lot of positives to take away from today’s game!
Arsenal keeper Wojciech Szczesny was just as much hero of the day as van Persie for the Gunners, making a number of great saves to deny the Reds but at the same time almost became villain of the piece as he conceded a penalty, fouling Luis Suarez but then redeemed himself by parrying Dirk Kuyt’s spot kick while also stopping the Dutchman’s second bite at the cherry!
Liverpool are now 10 points off Arsenal in fourth place; which is Liverpool’s target for the season. With only 12 games remaining this season, obtaining fourth place will be very tough, not impossible but tough. As things stand, Liverpool are under threat from Stoke City who are only three points behind Liverpool in eighth, although the Reds do have a game in hand over Tony Pulis’ side. Liverpool had so much potential this season which has really failed to materialise, especially at home, eight draws and one loss is piss poor for a team of the calibre of Liverpool Football Club!