Schuey says Argyle will fight on for play-off spot
PLYMOUTH Argyle will be ‘fighting to death’ to clinch a League One play-off place, manager Steven Schumacher has assured the Green Army.
The Pilgrims remained in fourth position after their 0-0 draw with Sunderland at Home Park while the visitors moved up one spot to sixth.
Sunderland are level on points with fifth-placed Wycombe Wanderers, who drew 1-1 at AFC Wimbledon, but have a game in hand on both of them.
Sheffield Wednesday dropped to seventh, three points behind Argyle, but they have played two games fewer than them and were at home to bottom-of-the-table and relegated Crewe Alexandra on Tuesday night.
Argyle have two more fixtures remaining, first away to table-topping Wigan Athletic on Saturday and then against MK Dons, who are currently third, at Home Park on April 30.
Schumacher said: “I think it has been clear for a while it’s going to go to the wire. Everybody in the top seven, eight positions in the league are all playing well.
“No-one is in poor form really. There is so much quality and there is so much money in that top eight, 10 teams.
“Everyone is going to feel as though this is a great opportunity to get into the play-offs and try and get into the Championship. I’m sure everyone will be fighting to the death and so will we.”
On the goal-less draw against Sunderland, Schumacher said: “I felt it was a good game, especially first half. The quality was really high, we passed the ball well.
“We created some good chances and were maybe unfortunate on a couple of occasions not to get the winner, and also a little bit careless on a couple of occasions as well.
“If the pass was a little bit better we might have been in and created a better chance for us to score. The second half was closer, a bit more scrappy, but it’s another point in the right direction.”
Arguably Argyle’s best chance of scoring against Sunderland came in the 41st minute when 19-goal top scorer Ryan Hardie headed inches wide from a Conor Grant cross.
Schumacher said: “I’m pleased that Ryan got onto the teamsheet first and foremost. He’s obviously a big player for us and we need him fit and firing.
“He hasn’t trained much at all, so credit for him to last as long as he did. Yeah, his chance from the header was a good opportunity, I thought it might have just crept it but unfortunately it went the other side of the post.”
Sunderland shaded the second half and Argyle goalkeeper Mike Cooper had to make one smart save with an outstretched boot to kick away a low shot from striker Nathan Broadhead.
Cooper also had to dive at the feet on onrushing Sunderland top scorer Ross Stewart in the opening period and block the ball away to safety.
Schumacher said: “He did well, he came off his line and was brave. I think that was their clearest opportunity maybe on goal.
“The lad (Broadhead) got in and Michael came out and smothered it but, overall, I don’t think he was troubled too much.”
Despite both sides showing plenty of attacking intent, the game ended with just three shots on target - two for Sunderland and one for Argyle, although there were a number of near misses also.
Schumacher said: “I think both teams wanted to try and win. It wasn’t a negative game, it wasn’t two teams who sat back.
“That’s not what the two sides are all about. Sunderland have been playing some real good football of late and have been going really well since Alex Neil took charge, and we are the way we are.
“We like to play attacking football so it was always going to be that type of game. I just felt that teams on the last pass a couple of times didn’t have enough quality to create the goalscoring opportunity needed.”
Schumacher continued: “It was a close game, maybe we just edged the first half. The first 45 minutes I felt we were really good.
“The second half we just started a little bit slow and we gave the ball away a few times early on, unnecessarily with sloppy passes, and gave them a little bit of the initiative.
“But then I think as the half went on we came into it again, we grew into the game and it could have gone either way at the end.
“We had a couple of balls flash right across the six-yard box, and one from set play that if someone just gets any touch it goes in. It was a close game, probably a fair result in the game.”