Woods’ return from suspension gives Lowe options
ON-LOAN Crystal Palace defender Sam Woods is added to Plymouth Argyle’s squad for the away League One game against MK Dons tonight (7pm).
Woods has completed a threematch suspension after he was sentoff in stoppage time at the end of the 2-0 defeat away to Northampton Town on March 2, which was also his full debut.
The trio of Will Aimson, Jerome Opoku and Kell Watts have been the defensive trio for the last three games as the Pilgrims’ losing run has extended to four.
That included the 1-0 defeat at Ipswich Town on Saturday, where manager Ryan Lowe went with a 3-42-1 formation to try and make his side more solid defensively.
Niall Ennis played as a lone striker, but Argyle reverted to two up front when Ryan Hardie and 18-goal top scorer Luke Jephcott were sent on as 63rd minute substitutes.
Lowe must now decide which formation to start the game with against MK Dons, who the Pilgrims beat 1-0 at Home Park six days before Christmas with a goal from Hardie.
The Pilgrims’ boss said: “They (the players) did work hard on Saturday but they can work harder. We will give them the game plan to go out and try to execute against MK Dons because we need to collect a few points quickly.
“We don’t want to get ourselves in a fight down the bottom, we want to still keep looking up at teams above us and see if we can get up there. We have got to turn it around quickly.”
Argyle are 16th in the league table, level on points with 15th-placed MK Dons but below them on goal difference.
Both clubs have identical records of 12 wins, nine draws and 14 defeats from their 35 games this season.
MK Dons ended a run of five matches without a victory when they beat visiting Accrington Stanley 3-2 on Saturday after a stoppage time goal from midfielder Matt O’Riley.
Experienced striker Cameron Jerome had scored twice earlier in the game to put them 2-0 ahead before Accrington hit back.
Plymouth-born former Argyle striker Joe Mason came off the bench for MK Dons in the second half while ex-Pilgrims’ loan signing Jordan Houghton was an unused substitute.