SONNY’S SHINING FOR THE PILGRIMS
PLYMOUTH’S promotion outlook continues to look Sonny as the centre-back rose to the occasion once again to keep Derek Adams’ men atop League Two.
Sonny Bradley scored a last-minute winner against Cheltenham at the start of last month and ensured the Pilgrims reached 10 successive league games unbeaten with two more headers either side of his unfortunate own goal.
The 25-year-old had already been making waves in the West Country since his summer move from Crawley, as he was nominated for the September League Two Player of the Month award.
And Adams said: “Sonny has done really well and has scored a good number of goals. It’s important you get your defenders scoring goals – he is very good in the air and he’s shown that.
“We had to deal with the physical aspect of the game against Stevenage. We knew that beforehand and we dealt with that very well.
“We passed the ball very well in the second half. We created a lot of openings, we could have scored more goals and gone on to win by a heftier margin.”
Stevenage boss Darren Sarll could not hide his frustration after the “madness” that saw his side fail to deal with the set-pieces that led to Bradley’s double.
“They’re the games you have to scrape through, dig in and make sure you’re not the side that makes the mistake,” he said.
“We’ve suffered two goals from a scenario that is practised week-in-week-out and a lack of concentration has meant we’ve left everyone, including ourselves, going away from here unhappy.
“It’s madness. That’s why we’re in League Two. That’s why the players are in League Two. That’s why I’m a manager of a League Two side, because these things happen to those type of players. We have to make sure we try to elevate our performance, our concentration and our focus.
“It was a game of set-pieces. We didn’t create any meaningful passages of play that allowed us to get players up the pitch to try and create an opportunity for Matt Godden.”
Argyle edged the first half and almost scored on 43 minutes as Jimmy Spencer’s looped effort hit the woodwork after Graham Carey had broken from midfield.
And the visitors broke the deadlock soon after the restart when David Fox’s inswinging free-kick evaded everyone apart from Bradley, who diverted the ball into the top corner.
Stevenage equalised just seven minutes later as Henry Cowans’ low free-kick led to a goalmouth scramble, which saw the ball bounce off Bradley and roll into the net.
But Boro – who have now lost three of their last four league games – were only level for four minutes, as Bradley glanced in a header from Carey’s free-kick.
Stevenage had their chances to level in five minutes of injury time, with Jack King and Harry McKirdy going close, but Plymouth saw the game out.