Grounded Jephcott just doing his bit for Pilgrims
LEVEL-HEADED Plymouth Argyle striker Luke Jephcott is putting team success ahead of individual glory.
The 20-year-old is emerging as an exciting goalscoring prospect with 12 goals in all competitions for the Pilgrims this season.
Ten of those have come in League One, making him the joint second top scorer behind Peterborough United’s Jonson Clarke-Harris.
The Wales under-21 international has accounted for 40 per cent of Argyle’s 25 league goals this season, and all of them have come from open play.
His latest two came in the 2-2 Boxing Day draw with Charlton Athletic at The Valley, when he put the Pilgrims ahead twice.
It was the fourth time in his career that he had scored two goals in a game, but his first hat-trick has proved elusive so far.
Jephcott said: “It will come soon enough. I’m just trying to do my best for the team.
“It’s nice chipping in with a couple of goals (against Charlton) but the main thing is we got another point away on the road. We are starting to build up some good momentum now.
“We are a bit disappointed with how the game went to not take all three points.
“But it’s still a good point away from home against a strong team. We just need to keep it going now.”
Jephcott has enjoyed playing at The Valley this season because he scored the winning goal when Argyle beat Charlton 1-0 in the FA Cup first round in November.
“Looking around at the stadium it’s a good club with good history,” said Jephcott.
“We came here to do a job and we are disappointed not take all three points but, at the end of the day, a point is still a point and we will take it away from home.”
Jephcott’s first goal against Charlton was a tap-in from six yards out after he was set up by his strike partner Ryan Hardie.
The pair had a lot of success together last season and in recent matches they have been reunited up front to good effect.
It was Hardie who scored the allimportant goal in the 1-0 victory over MK Dons at Home Park on December 19, which ended a run of six straight league defeats.
Jephcott said: “We have got a good partnership going. I think everyone can see that, but it’s not just me and Ry, it’s all the strikers together.
“We work on it in training and it’s paying off. Me and Ry are just carrying on from where we left last season.”
Jephcott has scored 19 goals in 32 games during a Covid-interrupted 2020 and most of them have come in and around the six-yard area.
He attributed that to the work he does in training each day with Pilgrims’ boss Ryan Lowe and the
Wales Under-21 international will look to continue his excellent form in tonight’s League One clash with Oxford United at Home Park.
Jephcott said: “That’s my area, just in and around the six-yard box. Tap ins, they are the best goals.
“We work on movements every day in training every day with the Gaffer (Lowe), all the strikers, coming short and going in behind.
“It’s just trying to get that yard of space. If you do it on the training ground enough times it’s going to come into play on the pitch.”
Jephcott got his second goal against Charlton from only a few yards out as he slotted a loose ball past ‘keeper Ben Amos.
A free-kick from Conor Grant was flicked on by Hardie and Jephcott was in the right place at the right time to tuck away a rebound.
Jephcott said: “I thought I was offside at first but we watched it back and I was onside.
“We get told to follow in everything, and I was there and managed to turn it in.”
Jephcott’s finishing ability in and around the six-yard area has already led to him being compared to an Argyle goalscoring legend.
Tommy Tynan netted 145 times for the Pilgrims in 310 appearances, and while Jephcott is a long way off those totals it is still quite a compliment for him to be mentioned this way.
Jephcott said: “I can’t really comment on that because I have never seen him (Tynan) play.
“People can compare me to whoever they want. I have just got to carry on with my game and do the best I can.”
He added: “I set myself a target of 10 goals before Christmas and then to kick on afterwards. I’m just taking each game as it comes, keeping my head down, doing the work and trying to help out the team with as many goals as I can.”