THE DAILY DIARY

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Greens on Screen's Daily Diary is a compilation of Argyle news, with help from these and other Argyle-related sites.

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On This Day:

Also included on the three most recent days, facts from Argyle's history.

Monday 6th April 2020

On This Day:

1970: Dave Burnside made his final appearance for the Greens in a 3-1 defeat at Tranmere. He had played 113 games and scored 17 goals between 1968 & 1970, and was voted Player of the Year in 1969. Famed for his outstanding ball skills, few Argyle players have ever been able to keepie-uppie like him.

5th

On This Day:

1982: Marcel Seip was born in Winschoten, Netherlands, so 38 today.

1986: Bournemouth 1 Argyle 3 (Cooper, Coughlin, Hodges). Over 2,000 travelling fans saw an injury decimated side achieve a post war record of five consecutive away victories, and take another stride towards promotion.

4th

On This Day:

1992: At 42 years and 199 days, Peter Shilton became the oldest player to make an Argyle debut, keeping a clean sheet in a draw at Charlton.

7th March

It was a fine day for George Cooper at Home Park as he produced an assist and two goals to dispatch Macclesfield Town at Home Park. His cross set up Ryan Hardie to put us into the lead before the break and two shots from range after the interval put the icing on the cake. Argyle: Palmer, Wootton, Canavan, McFadzean, Bakinson, B Moore(Cleal), C Grant, Mayor, G Cooper (Randell), Hardie, Jephcott (Telford). Subs: M Cooper, Aimson, Telford, JV Grant.

6th

Ryan Lowe revealed his hopes that two of Argyle's long term absentees are closer to returning to full fitness after lay offs to add to Argyle's defensive options. He did however go on to praise his current squad after some good performances against Grimsby from players who have just come back into the side. Lowe said: "Will Aimsoin is training again, he has done a lot of work with John and Dave, and yesterday was his first full training session with the lads. Saturday will be too soon for him but then train next week. I'm excited for Will, looking forward to having him back involved and I know he's chomping at the bit. In the times the fans have already seen him play, they've seen what he's got and that was probably only at 70% fit. A full 100% fit Will Aimson will be a real asset. As for Josh, Chelsea have got all the stuff for scans, he's doing his rehab with them and will be back with us to train next week."

"George Cooper came in after being left out for a couple of games, Ryan Hardie has been scoring goals off the bench, and Conor Grant was fantastic - we name them three because they came in against Grimsby. It's tough and the likes of Conor have been waiting for the opportunity. Not a day has gone by where he hasn't done his work properly. It's testament to them and their attitudes. We always say that when we sign players and they're good lads, good characters, who are waiting for an opportunity."

Cooper himself insisted it was a noticeably different game to the one against Macclesfield a few weeks before, adding: "It's a new game, we know what we need to do against them after we played them a few weeks ago. It'll be a different game this time round with the pitch and we need to get the three points. They were tough to break down and they had a couple of chances in the first half but we have a feeling about what they might do when they come here - we have to be ready for that. We just take every game as it comes and we know if we do our bit in the last ten games we should be ok. It's going to go right down to the wire and whoever does the best in these last ten games will be there."

5th

George Cooper wracked up his 11th assist of the season in Argyle's win against Grimsby and the king of chance creation spoke positively about his teammates' display. He said: "It was a great win first-half, we were on it. In the second-half, we didn't score any more goals but we still created a few chances and could've made it four or five. All the lads were enjoying it, we played some great stuff on Tuesday night, first-half especially, and on another day we could have had more goals. We all knew before the game on Tuesday that we needed to win, so that meant we were on it when we went out there and we got what we deserved, comfortably.

"Before the game. I'm going to get in the box today, find me at the back post' – thankfully, it hit him on the head and went in. The players know when I play and get the ball that I'm going to try and cross it as soon as I can."

Ryan Lowe added to his assessment: "It's always nice when you've won. We look back on it today, do some work today and tomorrow, and then look to put a plan in action for Macclesfield. A lot of credit has to go to the boys. We've got a good group, we do the work with them, tell them what we want and they go out and apply it. What they've done over the course of the season, when they've lost games and been disappointed, they've bounced back because you don't want to lose two or three. Our lads have been excellent. Every time we've asked them to bounce back with a positive mindset, positive attitude, they go and do it, so a lot of credit goes to the boys. We know the squad we've got and they always want to put things right, and want to win every game. You can't win every game but they definitely try, and it's the same with the staff. There have been times when we haven't and times when we have, but the bouncebackability of our boys has been special, which is always pleasing."

Finally, Lowe gave more details on his decision not to appeal the red card shown to Gary Sawyer at Bradford last week, explaining: "I spoke to Carl Boyeson after the game and he said he would have a look. Fair play to him, he said he would admit if it was wrong but he felt it was the right call, so I'm not going to argue. I was disappointed at the time but when you look back on it, what is a red card and what isn't? There are plenty of things that happen throughout the leagues and I just feel that whatever the referee decides to do in that moment, we'll always respect it. Sometimes we will be disappointed but the more we've looked at it, Gaz has his studs showing and the kid has reacted. We move on from it and in terms of appealing it, we went down the right lines. We spoke to the referee, who was open-minded and he said it was the right decision. I don't know the rules nowadays because they change that often. It was determination from Gaz and he's been excellent for us. Does he want to right some wrongs from last season? 100%, he's the captain. I don't want my players pulling out of tackles because you get hurt. The Newport one, the kid was just too fast and would have been too fast for anyone. The Bradford one was down to the pitch because the ball stopped. I'm not questioning Gary Sawyer's mentality because he's had two red cards, he just wants to do well for the football club."

4th

Ryan Lowe spoke of Argyle's positive response to the loss at Bradford by praising the encouraging performance and win against Grimsby. He said: "We said bouncebackability to the boys and that's what we wanted. They were chomping at the bit, you could see that. Although the performance was ok on Saturday, you shouldn't have to play in league football on a pitch like that at Bradford. We eradicated all the excuses and said 'let's get back to winning ways'. It was always going to be a tough test, Grimsby are in decent enough form, Ollie's gone in there and turned it around. We felt they would try and play a bit, fair play to them, but we were clinical, especially in the first half. I would've liked to be a bit more clinical in the second half but I always want more. A clean sheet and three goals, so very pleasing. We knew they would play 4-3-3, three attackers up there and we just moved it around a little bit tactically, with one or two players in different positions. We always felt, especially at home, we could play our passing game, breaking through the lines and always be a threat."

Ryan Hardie's goal went some way towards freeing himself from the super sub tag with his goal and all round good display in the game. Hardie felt he had cause to claim for another goal too, saying: "The referee put it [the third goal] down as mine but Jephs is claiming it. Naz headed it back across and Jeph has had a shot from a tight angle. It has either went in or stayed on the line and I've made sure it went in, I'll take it if the referee gave it to me. Of course, what you want to do as a footballer is start games, but the manager makes the decisions. Whether I feel it's right or not, it's up to him at the end of the day. I am glad I got my chance and I finally got a goal as a starter."

Lowe said of the striking option: "It's a great combination and we've also got other players, who are just as good. We're just pleased to have three points, three goals and a clean sheet. They've been terrific and I call Hardie a greyhound because he's rapido and when he gets in there, he's calm and composed. Fair play to him, every time he's got into those positions, you're confident he's going to hit the back of the net. What people often don't see is the big picture; we have monitors in the dug-out, eyes in the sky and people watching from different angles, people analysing and telling us what is going on. We don't just look at Ryan scoring when he's come off the bench, we look at the chances he's been given, the chances he's created and we do that with all the forwards. In Ryan Hardie's case, he has always been in the right place at the right time, and it was proved when he was put through, stayed calm and composed. Ryan is a fantastic asset, he's scoring goals and that's what we brought him in to do."

"It's always tough in the second half but fair play to Grimsby, they changed shape a little bit and tried to cause a few problems. Our lads put their bodies on the line, we defended a few corners and a fantastic team performance. It's never easy going out again when it's 3-0 at half-time because people think you're going to score six. They've got an experienced manager in Ian Holloway and he was never going to let that happen. All I'm pleased with is three more points on the board for where we're trying to get to. You can always think you should score more but how can you be disappointed when you've scored three goals. We respect Grimsby massively and especially their manager, when you look at what he's achieved and what he's done. We just wanted to make sure we got the three points, we got into some good positions and scored three goals."

3rd

A first half blitz from Argyle saw off Grimsby Town in a formidable display where the game was wrapped up before the interval. Goals from Bakinson, Hardie and Jephcott made the second half a non-event. Argyle: Palmer, Wootton, Canavan, McFadzean, Bakinson, Moore, C Grant, Mayor, G Cooper(Edwards), Hardie (Telford), Jephcott (Taylor). Subs: M Cooper, Randell, Cleal, JV Grant.

2nd

Gary Sawyer and Antoni Sarcevic have had their suspension confirmed by the Football Association after each received a red card at Bradford City. Sarcevic who was shown two yellow cards will be unavailable for the Pilgrims' two home League Two matches against Grimsby Town on Tuesday, March 3ed and Macclesfield Town on Saturday, March 7th. Sawyer, who received his second straight red card of the season will also be absent for those two matches, as well as visits to Morecambe on Saturday, March 14th and Leyton Orient on Tuesday, March 17th.

1st

Despite some referring decisions and a dubious pitch going against Argyle in their game against Bradford, Ryan Lowe insisted Argyle should not look for excuses and rather focus on their own performance in the game. He said: "We're overall disappointed, gutted is the right word. You come to Bradford and you want to play on a nice pitch, but that wasn't to be. We're not making excuses but have we been beaten by the better team? Probably not, but we've been beaten and we're disappointed. They had a couple of chances that flashed past the post but so did we. When we came in the morning, it probably wasn't [playable]. The groundsmen have worked their socks off, they've got it done. It wasn't playable to our standards but we wanted the game on, we travelled seven hours yesterday but I'm not making any excuses, we've been beaten and we've got to get back on the bike, and get riding again."

"We did it last year with Bury at Newport, tried to change our tactics and got beat, so I was never going to change my tactics again. We did change a little in the second half because we felt the ball was coming back too soon and we put Ryan Hardie on to stretch them, and Ryan Taylor was outstanding. In terms of tactics, we're always going to try and play our way. In the first half, there were some good bits but the goal kills you. We found ourselves 1-0 down from a corner and the second one is in the top corner. We were 2-0 down and felt we had to go again. If we conceded another, it's still the same three points that you're losing. We've had a right good go in the second half. I'm disappointed in the first red card but I'll have to analyse it properly. The kid has made a meal of it, the ball died a little and it is what it is. We will have a look at it. Sarce has got the ball. He knows he's been booked but he was the captain, the leader, he had the armband on at the time and he was frustrated with what was going on. The decisions that were made are down to the referee."

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