Plymouth v The Daggers - Preview

Tomorrow, we travel to Plymouth Argyle Football Club in what is arguably our biggest game of the season to date. All season both teams have been down the wrong end of the table in a relegation dogfight and both teams still remain there going into tomorrow's match. Surprisingly, both teams were League One sides last season and both received the same fate of relegation. Both clubs have not adapted well to League Two life and tomorrow's encounter can be seen as nothing less than a 6 pointer from both perspectives. To say the last two season's have been eventful for Argyle would be a massive understatement. The Pilgrims have received back to back relegation's from the Championship as their attendances have now dropped by 50% compared to their first season in the Championship in the 2004/2005 season. It was only 5 seasons ago that the Devonshire club finished 10th in the Championship with now Wolves striker Sylvan Ebanks-Blake finishing top scorer with 13 goals. Plymouth had some very well known and respected managers in their time in the Championship with Stoke's Tony Pulis, Blackpool's Ian Holloway and Southend's Paul Sturrock being some of the big names who had spells with the club. The decline was dramatic for Argyle as they spent just one year in League One under the very well respected Peter Reid after they were put into adminstration and received a 10 point deduction last season. With the players and staff of the club having not been paid for months, the club was on the brink of liquidation and rookie Chairman Peter Risdale was desperate for a buyer. The club finally found a buyer in James Brent who bought the club and finally led them to exit adminstration on the 31st October. In this time, the managerial role was also changed despite tremendous loyalty shown by Peter Reid ,including selling his cup winners medal to raise funds for the club, their poor league position meant he was relieved of his duties and player/manager ex Palace and West Ham midfielder Carl Fletcher took over the reins.

The Green Army has had a tough few seasons to say the least.

Recent Form

Argyle seem to be picking up a bit of form in the past few weeks as they are now unbeaten in 3 games. Draws at home to Barnet and Southend followed up by an emphatic 4-0 win away at Accrington Stanley last week has lifted them out of the bottom two and into 21st. Carl Fletcher's men are now also unbeaten in 4 at home and were last defeated at home to Torquay on the 2nd January. The Pilgrims will be looking to keep their unbeaten record in February up as 3 points tomorrow would take them 6 points ahead of ourselves who are at the foot of the table at the moment.

The Daggers have not had the best starts to 2012 as we have only picked up 4 points out of a possible 21. The nightmare showing last week where we were defeated 5-0 at home to high flyers Cheltenham put us into 24th position and 3 points behind fellow strugglers Plymouth, Hereford and Northampton with a massive dent in our goal difference as well. The Daggers have conceded 9 goals in their last 3 games and will need to be drastically better defensively if we are to get anything out of tomorrow's game.

Previous Encounters

The Daggers may well see Plymouth as a bogey team after losing all 3 previous league encounters with the Devonshire club. Last season saw Argyle come out on top 2-1 at Home Park in their lowest ever crowd since they were in the bottom tier with only 4,960 turning out. The Daggers took the lead in this one with a rare Gavin Tomlin goal before second half strikes from now Brighton Hove Albion's Craig Noone and Rory Patterson giving Argyle all 3 points. The second encounter between the two sides came on Good Friday where Argyle were all but down and the Daggers desperately needed the 3 points. On a bright and sunny afternoon, that man again Rory Patterson struck a free kick to give them the 3 points as he was also later dismissed for a 2nd bookable offence. The reverse fixture this season was also high drama in a 5 goal thriller where Plymouth came out on top 3-2. In Plymouth's first away win of the season, they went into a 2 goal lead with strikes from 16 year old Matt Lecointe and Conor Hourihane whose second strike would be fit to grace the Premier League. The Daggers showed good bouncebackability in this one as within 6 minutes they were level with two headers from Scott Doe and Jon Nurse where both goals were supplied by former Pilgrim Damien McCrory. However, in a cruel twist of fate, McCrory was adjudged to have brought down Isaac Vassell in a highly controversial decision resulting in a red card for McCrory and skipper Simon Walton converting the penalty to give Argyle all 3 points.

The two sides line up in the reverse fixture in October...

Team News

There is no official word on Argyle's team news yet but one would expect a pretty similar side to the one that ran out comfortable 4-0 winners last week at Accrington which includes Argyle legend Paul Wotton and the ever experienced skipper Darren Purse. Carl Fletcher's men seem to have a mix of youth and experience with the youngsters such as Connor Hourihane, Matt Lecointe and Luke Daley mixed with the likes of Purse, Wotton and Nick Chadwick.

The Daggers will be forced into a few changes after last week with keeper Chris Lewington being suspended for 2 games, on loan from Watford Jon Bond will be expected to deputise in goal. The Daggers have also moved to bring in Saints winger Ben Reeves who may go straight into tomorrow's side. No other fresh new injury worries but the game is expected to come too soon for central midfielder Luke Howell who is back in training.

One To Watch:

A difficult choice for me with the Argyle squad having a lot of potential and experience as I decided to opt with captain Simon Walton. Walton joined Argyle in 2008 and has had a rocky career at the Devonshire club. Walton has been loaned out 3 times in his Argyle career to Blackpool, Crewe and Sheffield United. Walton has had his fair share of controversy when he fell out with Paul Sturrock and was transfer listed. Despite this, it seems Walton has finally put his troubles behind him and is having a successful season under Carl Fletcher who has handed him the captiancy this season. Although, Walton started on the bench last week, he has started 31 times for Plymouth in all competitions and has scored 8 goals for them this season making himself the top scorer at the club. The defensive midfielder seems to have a real good engine and will be a real tough opponent if selected tomorrow.

Walton is also engaged to glamour model Nicola Tappenden.

My Prediction:

As you all know, I never make direction predictions on games, just how I think the game will go and where it will be won and lost. Last week's result would obviously have knocked the dressing room's confidence however I feel with strong leadership from Arbs and the philosophy of gaffer John Still, we'll be fine and well prepared for tomorrow's make or break game. I am incredibly nervous for this one and have avoided thinking too much about the game this week if I'm honest. However, I do have this to say, we must see this a must win game but if we don't, it is not over. We have 15 games left after tomorrow's match and we should not be written off. A lot of our fans have already wrote us off after last week's result but one bad day at the office does not relegate you. There are 66 points available to fight for and we must continue to support and believe in the boys, as much as you may not realise your negativity spreads onto the pitch and this is not helpful. I remain optimistic as always and believe there is enough talent in the squad to keep us up and it is time for the whole squad to stand up and be counted. I will post my match report on Sunday as Home Park is a new ground for me and will be my 44th League ground. Stay Positive. Believe. We are Dagenham.

The Daggers team huddle on that sunny afternoon in October.

My reaction if we manage to get 3 points tomorrow afternoon..