Adams hopes win over Scunthorpe can be a turning point for Plymouth

Posted Sunday, October 28, 2018 by PA

Plymouth boss Derek Adams hopes his side have turned a corner after a 4-1 success at Scunthorpe completed a great week for the club.

Having lost seven of their first 10 games, Argyle are now toasting back-to-back victories, with Freddie Ladapo, Niall Canavan, Joel Grant and Antoni Sarcevic all finding the back of the net.

It came days after a 3-1 success over Gillingham that has taken them to within a point of safety,.

“We’re hopeful now we can start to climb the table,” said Adams. “I think we’ve shown in our performances this season that we are better than our league position.

“We haven’t had the results our play has deserved, but today we came, played on the front foot and caused Scunthorpe a lot of trouble with our passing and running in behind them. We were just unfortunate not to add to the scoreline.

“It was great to make it 2-0 just before half-time, but conceding so early in the second half set us back.

“We had to regain the confidence we had in the first half and we did do with the third goal.

“We needed that as Scunthorpe were pushing forward and putting balls into the box, but we knew that by doing that we would be able to pick them off. It came at a great time.”

Ladapo gave Plymouth the lead in the 13th minute from inside the penalty area, but the Pilgrims had to wait until first-half stoppage time to double their lead via Canavan’s flicked header.

A commanding lead looked much less secure when Scunthorpe substitute Lee Novak fired his side back into the game four minutes after being introduced at the start of the second half.

And after the hosts’ on-loan Chelsea striker Ike Ugbo had a goal ruled out for offside, Grant finished off a flowing move by finding the back of the net at the far post, with Sarcevic rounding things off in stoppage time.

The defeat was Scunthorpe’s fifth in succession and left their manager Stuart McCall, not for the first time this season, bemoaning his side’s defending.

He said: “Plymouth started the game a lot better than us and it didn’t come as a surprise to me that they went ahead. I thought they were more purposeful.

“We’d talked about coming out and having a fast start because we’d lost four on the bounce, but I thought we looked edgy and didn’t really get on the front foot.

“We missed some incredible chances in the first half – we probably had more than in the previous four games – and to lose a goal right on half-time was a big blow.

“Plymouth scored with their first attack of the second half, which is criminal from our point of view. We can’t conceding goals like we are doing.”