Argyle have ‘no fear’ of League One opponents
PLYMOUTH Argyle boss Ryan Lowe said that his table-topping Pilgrims have ‘no fear’ of the so-called bigger clubs in League One ahead of Ipswich Town’s visit to Home Park tomorrow.
The Tractor Boys are former UEFA Cup winners and were comfortable in the Championship ten years ago, a far cry away from Argyle who had just managed to fight off administration in the same season.
Despite Ipswich’s rich history, the two club’s find themselves in the same league, and the Greens are now on the upward trajectory, leading the table with a third of the season gone, and not having lost since the opening day.
Ipswich Town sit in tenth, but following a five game unbeaten run, they will visit Devon in good form but Argyle, unbeaten in 14, will respect each opponent they face, but Lowe said but his players certainly don’t fear the bigger clubs as they aim to go “toe to toe” with them.
He said: “People will call their own clubs ‘big hitters’ and not so ‘big hitters’ but we don’t look at it like that we respect every club that comes to Home Park and we respect every club we go on the road to travel to.
“You don’t have the right to beat any club, whether that’s Ipswich, Sheffield Wednesday or Morecambe. They have been in the echelons of the Premier League but they’re in our league now.
“The players don’t look at it as ‘we’re playing Ipswich Town’ - if Barcelona, Real Madrid, Man City or Liverpool are coming to town then it’s a bit different - but with all due respect, these teams are in our league for a reason so we have to respect them but not fear them.
“It’s important we don’t fear them as we want to go toe to toe with these clubs. People will mention how big their budgets are but it doesn’t really matter it’s a game of 11 v 11 and the best team does the best things most of the time.”
Discussing tomorrow’s opponents, Lowe praised Ipswich Town boss Paul Cook and his squad, and said that he expected them to be challenging for promotion by the end of the season, despite their slow start.
The Argyle boss said: “They’ve got a fantastic squad and a fantastic manager. They’re now picking up to where they should be, which I knew they would.
“It’s going to be an entertaining game - they’ve scored 29 goals to our 26, so both teams are scoring goals. They’ve conceded 22 and we’ve conceded 13 so it all bodes well for a good football match.
“How Paul sets up his teams is how football should be played and that’s certainly how we go about our business. I’m really looking forward to an entertaining game against two good teams and two fantastic football teams.”
October 28 is ten years to the day when Argyle staved off administration but Lowe said the focus is on Saturday’s game where they hope to pay tribute to Ipswich Town and Plymouth Argyle legend, Paul Mariner who sadly passed away in the summer.
He said: “I didn’t know it had been 10 years to be honest. All the focus has been on the football on Saturday afternoon but as we all know the club is well structured, in a better financial position and run better than it ever has been before.
“We’re going to have the Paul Mariner celebration too on Saturday so it all bodes well. When he passed I did a bit of research on him, I obviously knew he was a legend here, but you look at the goals he scored - he was a fantastic servant to both clubs.”
Another reason to look forward to Saturday’s clash is the sell out crowd which is expected at Home Park. The club has already sold 15,000 tickets with more to go.
Praising the support, Lowe added: “I don’t know how many Ipswich has brought but they’re going to travel in numbers. A lot of people have told me they haven’t been down in 10 years but now they’re back and seeing what we’re doing.
“We can’t get carried away and expectations will rise through the roof, fans are allowed to do that but we have to stay level headed and keep going about our business as we’ve been doing. It’ll be nice to see a packed Home Park this weekend.
“As a player I’d have loved to have come here because if you give it your all the fans absolutely love you.”