Soccer
Tom Cleverley says win at Doncaster could be ‘pivotal’ in Plymouth’s season
Plymouth head coach Tom Cleverley labelled the 3-2 win at Doncaster as ‘pivotal’ for his side, even though it was only their fifth game of the season.
Goals from Will Evans, Bim Pepple and Caleb Watts saw Argyle claim a deserved first away win of the Sky Bet League One campaign, much to the relief of boss Cleverley who admitted feeling his well-fancied team were in a ‘sticky situation’ following a mixed start to the season.
And he praised his group for showing the right mentality to overcome the challenge and take the win.
He said: “We had a setback in midweek with the game at Leicester that we definitely should have got something from.
“It was a huge setback and put us in a little bit of a sticky position with this game being pivotal as to whether we spent the weekend 20th or one point outside the play-offs.
“It was a pivotal little game. Nobody looks at potential refereeing decisions or how hard your first five games are, they just focus on where you are in the table. So to win this game and be in a more positive position is good and we can focus on working hard this week.
“We dealt with a setback within the game with the penalty Doncaster got, which I’ve not seen back – but these decisions aren’t going for us.
“The mentality of the players was strong to win this one. They deserve a lot of credit for the controllables, the workrate, being there for each other – it was all there.”
Doncaster manager Grant McCann had no qualms with the result for his side, whose hunt for a first win continues.
Alfie May had equalised from the spot after Owen Bailey was fouled by Matty Sorinola but Rovers were well beaten, with Sean Grehan’s last-gasp header a mere consolation.
“We got what we deserved,” McCann said. “They were better than us from minute one to minute 96 (sic). They were the better team, more physical than us, worked harder than us and it was the right result.
“It was another game where I had to raise my voice at half-time, which I don’t like doing because a manager losing his head is not what I used to respect when I was a player.
“We started well at the start of the second half. We get the penalty, Alfie scores and for five minutes we’re OK but then we just explode. We give them a goal and give them another goal.
“I’ll never question the attitude but we have looked really slow to start games so far and we keep showing second half spells but we can’t keep doing that because there’s good teams in this division.”
