On a wet and windy night, when the club paid tribute to broadcasting giant Gordon Sparks, Argyle ground out a hard-earned victory that could prove to be another defining moments in this season’s promotion quest, writes Colin Bradbury.
Photos: Colin Bradbury / Cornwall Sports Media
If there’s one characteristic of this Plymouth Argyle team, it’s that they never, ever, give up. Unfortunately for Shrewsbury Town, it appears that they didn’t get the memo.
After going ahead in the 30th minute, the visitors chose to focus on defending the lead for the remaining hour instead of trying to widen their advantage. Which was odd, as they are actually a very decent team, looking particularly dangerous on the break.
It was all the more frustrating that they descended early on into the kind of time-wasting chicanery of which that other Argyle bogey team – the one beginning with ‘W’ – would have been proud. It’s certainly difficult to recall the last time that Home Park has witnessed a referee running over to book a substituted opposition player for taking so long to leave the pitch that it looked like he’d actually got lost on the way to the dugout.
It wasn’t until the 70th minute that Argyle’s persistence paid off, however, as substitute Niall Ennis got on the end of a Morgan Whittaker cross to level the scores. But the Greens barely paused to celebrate, sprinting back to the half-way line with the scent of blood in their nostrils.
Then, with just seven minutes of regulation time remaining another substitute, Brendan Galloway, angled a perfectly weighted ball to the far post which Morgan Whittaker put away to grab all three points.
The banner in the Devonport End before kick-off recalled one of Sparksy’s most iconic commentary moments, concluding with; “That’s it – Argyle are up!” There’s an awful lot of the season left to go, but the Home Park faithful have every reason to hope that, on current form, there might just be the opportunity for a repeat of that sentiment come May next year.
