Plymouth Argyle beat Aldershot Town 2 – 1 at Home Park on Tuesday evening in the Football League Trophy but I can’t help but feel that the Pilgrims won the wrong match; I would much rather have seen Argyle beat AFC Wimbledon in League Two on Saturday. I’m sure that Plymouth are not going to win the League Trophy, it’s insignificant in my view, Argyle need to put 100% effort into their, thusfar hit or miss league campaign, silverware is pointless if we lose our football league status!
I’ll start with the positive; the Pilgrims victory in the Johnstone’s Paint Trophy over Aldershot Town; Argyle claimed the win by two (2) goals to one (1); all three goals being scored in the first 30 minutes of play. Paris Cowan-Hall got the home side off to a flying start, putting the Pilgrims into the lead with 34 seconds on the clock; the Argyle striker got on the end of Joe Lennox’s cross to find the back of the net from close range. As per usual; Argyle failed to protect their lead; allowing Craig Reid to pull one back for the Shots, netting Peter Vincenti’s rebounded shot.
Plymouth were lucky to stay at parity when Troy Brown hit the crossbar and Reid hit the post with the rebound in the 17th minute. Argyle’s Argentine midfielder Andres Gurrieri hit the woodwork shortly before he won the game for the Pilgrims with a superb 25 yard strike in the 30th minute.
Now we travel back three days to Saturday afternoon to see Argyle being denied a point by AFC Wimbledon in front of the Home Park faithful. The Pilgrims lost the game 1 – 2 being denied in second half added time. Argyle were behind for much of the game after Byron Harrison found the back of the net from close range in the 13th minute. Argyle earned an equaliser in the 89th minute from the penalty spot, although the initial penalty was saved by Wimbledon keeper, Seb Brown; Rhys Griffiths got to the rebound first to make sure of the equaliser at the second attempt.
Argyle couldn’t defend their position and had a point cruelly ripped away two minutes into second half added time. Rashid Yussuff deflected shot claiming all three points for the visiting side, it’s always disappointing to lose but to lose the game at the very last moment is cruel; but Argyle need to play better; the Pilgrims defence has more in common with the Titanic than anything else!