Western Morning News (Saturday)
Schumacher wary of ‘yard sharper’ Gills
>
STEVEN Sessegnon has been added to the Plymouth Argyle squad for today’s League One game away to Gillingham.
That is the only change from the 1-0 victory over Shrewsbury Town at Home Park last Saturday, which moved the Pilgrims up to sixth spot.
Sessegnon joined Argyle on loan from Championship leaders Fulham until the end of the season on the final day of the January transfer window.
However, he has not been involved in their three matches since then due to a previous hamstring injury which he was working his way back from.
The England under-21 international is now fit for selection, leaving George Cooper, Brendan Galloway (both knee) and Dan Scarr (hamstring) as the three players on the Pilgrims’ casualty list.
Argyle manager Steven Schumacher said: “Sess has trained Tuesday and Thursday and he looks okay. He will travel with the group.
“I haven’t decided yet on the team or the bench, but we have got a clean bill of health apart from the three longer term ones.”
Gillingham dismissed Steve Evans as their manager last month and appointed Neil Harris, the former Millwall and Cardiff City boss.
Under Harris, the Gills have picked up seven points from four games, including 1-0 home wins against Crewe Alexandra and Cambridge United.
They narrowly lost 1-0 at Ipswich Town and, most recently, drew 1-1 away to Morecambe last weekend.
When asked whether there were any differences to Gillingham under Harris compared to before, Schumacher said: “Yeah, I think so, the most obvious one is the energy levels that they are playing with.
“They look as though they are a yard sharper. They are running a little bit more and they look really well organised.
“They have had a couple of good results against Crewe and Cambridge, which we have watched, and I thought they were unlucky as well away from home at Ipswich.
“We are going to go there and we know it’s going to be a hard game. He [Harris] will have his team well up for it and try and get another win because he has won two at home.”
Argyle have gone 16 games in all competitions and 41 years without a win against Gillingham at Priestfield Stadium.
Schumacher said: “It’s a mad stat. I know we haven’t played them every year but 16 times is still a long stint to go there and not get a win.
“But look, this is a new game, it’s fresh. We are going there and records are there to be broken.”
It the start of a sequence of 16 games in the final 10 weeks of the season, which will conclude with a home game against MK Dons on Saturday, April 30. All League One fixtures that day will kick-off at 12.30pm.
Schumacher said: “It’s going to be hectic, hopefully it’s going to be exciting. Hopefully our lads can keep performing to the levels that we have done over the last few weeks and we can keep grinding out points.
“As a staff and as a group of players we just need to concentrate on what we do. We know how many points we have got to try and get to finish where we want to.
“We have just got to do our best in every single one, take each game as it comes, and see if we can win more than we lose.”