DEVON’S SO GREEN AND PLEASANT FOR ADAMS
Argyle claim county bragging rights
DEREK ADAMS warned Plymouth are on the march after watching his tabletoppers snatch Devon bragging rights with a ruthless display at struggling Exeter.
First-half goals from Graham Carey and Paul-Arnold Garita sent the Pilgrims to a seventh straight win for the first time since 2004.
It was Adams’ first Devon derby league victory and erased the pain after Exeter completed the double over their arch-rivals last season.
The victory cemented Plymouth’s place at the top of the table and, while Adams is not going to get carried away, he is delighted with their swift rise up the table following back-to-back defeats at the start of the campaign.
The Pilgrims boss said: “Devon is green and white now, purely green and white. It was a very good performance and we could have won by four or five.
“It was a hostile atmosphere and we coped really well with that. We have got very good mental strength and we have come to a difficult venue and taken all three points.
“It is not easy to win games in this league and we have won six on the trot in the league and one in the cup. Now we are putting our foot on the pedal and we need to keep going.”
Plymouth made the early breakthrough after good work from
Craig Tanner down the left saw the ball slid into Garita’s feet. The onloan striker pulled the ball back for Carey, who planted a shot into the roof of the net to hand Argyle the perfect start.
Exeter struggled to handle the pace and power of Garita and the wizardry of Carey throughout the first half.
Plymouth’s second goal saw Garita race on to Craig Tanner’s through ball, fend off the attentions of centre-backs Luke Croll and Pierce Sweeney, and slide the ball past Bobby Olejnik. Exeter’s best move of the first half came on 42 minutes after Jack Stacey fizzed in a perfect cross only for Robbie Simpson to power a header over the bar from inside the six-yard box. Plymouth midfielder Jake Jervis came off the bench eight minutes after the break and almost made an instant impact, cutting in from the left and forcing Olejnik into a sprawling save low down to his right. Jake Taylor squandered a glorious chance to pull one back shortly after the hour mark when he sent a free header past the post following an inch-perfect cross by Joel Grant.
Exeter knew it wasn’t going to be their day when Lee Holmes rattled the bar with a thumping drive as the hosts piled on the pressure.
But Plymouth stood firm to preserve their clean sheet and their boisterous band of 1,545 fans couldn’t resist the cheeky taunt at the final whistle: “There’s only one team in the Devon.”
Exeter boss Paul Tisdale says he trusts his players to revive their ailing fortunes following a run of five games without a home win.
“I am really proud of the players for the way they kept going,” he said. “We got undone by two goals through the middle of midfield and that was the difference between the two sides.
“You have to score more goals than the opposition, that’s the bottom line. But you also have to look at the long term and the progress of the team.
“I have won Devon derbies and I have lost derbies and there have been some where I have come in absolutely seething.
“But I said to the players, ‘I trust in you and I believe in you, you showed an awful lot of guts in the way you played’.”