Sturrock: 'Don’t really want to say too much more about Bilel Mohsni’s red card'
Blues boss Paul Sturrock spent some happy times as a Pilgrim, along with half the squad it seems, but it's all about victory Saturday on the Essex coast, and another three points that could take the Shrimpers into the play-off zone.
Sturrock told www.echo-news.co.uk: "It's another big game for us against Plymouth Argyle tomorrow and it would be brilliant if we could make it back to back victories. It’s a dangerous match because Plymouth have been on a bad run of results but we certainly can’t afford to take them lightly. In fact, we will need to dig in and work hard, just like we did after going down to 10 men against Gillingham on Tuesday night. I don’t really want to say too much more about Bilel Mohsni’s red card but, after his dismissal, the lads worked tirelessly and were rewarded with the three points thanks to a late header from Mark Phillips."
Maybe 'dangerous' is putting it a touch strongly, but let's face it, Luggy expects all his sides, older Plymouth fans will be well aware of this as well, to have a very high work ethic.
Sturrock continued: "I think our endeavour was the key because I will always back my players’ ability at this football club but they have to first match the opponents for work-rate and effort. We also changed our approach to Tuesday night’s game and we met up for a training session earlier in the day before having a pre-match meal together at the training ground. It’s something I hadn’t done before but it worked well and made sure the players all prepared in the right way. It also allowed me to put across just how important this game was and that the fans would be keen for us to win as Gillingham are geographically the closest club to us in our league."
Fair enough, and in his weekly column, the veteran Scot went on to explain what he
Sturrock continued: "We also needed a reaction to the disappointing defeat at Swindon and that’s why I made a couple of changes to the team. That included Peter Gilbert coming in for Luke Prosser at left-back just because I felt Luke needed a bit of a rest. Michael Timlin took Ryan Leonard’s place too and there was a good shape to the team as we picked up a clean sheet which really did please me. We haven’t had enough of them so far this season but Glenn Morris made some good saves to make sure we got one against Gillingham. Glenn’s a good shot-stopper but there are other areas of his game me and him have had chats about this season. He did well on Tuesday though and hopefully we can now start to be more solid as a team because you need clean sheets if you want to win promotion."
Can't argue with that, but goals win matches in another player that has a Pilgrims connection, he had pen on paper for Plymouth but decided not to sign, tall hitman Liam Dickinson returns from his three-match suspension to remind the travelling Argyle faithful, (blimey, how many will there be?), what they're missing.
Sturrock concluded: "At the other end of the pitch, we welcome Liam Dickinson back from suspension tomorrow and that will give us a big boost. He was just finding some form before his ban began but the break has allowed him to rest his injured ankle. He had an injection on it during his time out to try and reduce his discomfort and hopefully that will also have worked.We had hoped Barry Corr could have been back this weekend too but he's suffered a slight reaction in training. Unfortunately the match will probably come too soon for Lee Sawyer who we don’t expect to be involved and Neil Harris will have another late fitness test on his groin."
It would certainly be great to see Bomber back as well but who need strikers when you have goal machine Mark Phillips heading them home from another pin-point Ryan Hall set piece!
