Western Morning News

Lowe calls on his Pilgrims to start believing

- CHRIS ERRINGTON chris.errington@reachplc.com

RYAN Lowe has urged his Plymouth Argyle players to start believing in themselves after their excellent 2-1 win away to Sunderland at the Stadium of Light.

It was the Pilgrims’ first away League One win of the campaign, at the 10th time of trying, and came on their longest trip of 2020/21.

Skipper Joe Edwards grabbed the winning goal in the 55th minute as Argyle moved four positions up the table to 11th position.

They have 30 points from 23 games at the midway point of the season after some much improved results over the past month.

Lowe said: “I have every faith in our lads of what we are trying to do, and I said to the group in there ‘Start believing’.

“I want them to have that bit of belief about them, on what they want to do and where they want to go.

“When we have got that belief and that determinat­ion it does take you places.

“We are not getting too carried away. We had a good start to the season, we had a bit of a blip and now we are in a good run of form.

“I’m pleased to come to the Stadium of Light and play the football we played.

“They (Sunderland) were a little bit direct in terms of how they went, but they have still got some quality players who play the right way.

“I thought our patterns of play, and effecting the game in the right areas, was very good.”

The game went ahead after surviving a pitch inspection carried out by referee Rob Lewis following persistent heavy rain on Wearside.

There were pools of water across the playing surface an hour before the 7pm kick-off but the groundstaf­f worked to clear them.

Unusually for Lowe, he went out onto the pitch during the pre-match warm up to see for himself exactly what the conditions were like.

Lowe said: “I watched what they (the players) were doing and I thought ‘We are still going to play our football’.

“We don’t know any other way and the pitch held up, to be fair, but there was a lot of water on it.

“There was no other way for us. We always knew they (Sunderland) were going to come at us and have a go.

“There were balls coming into the box from different areas. I thought we dealt with it fantastic.”

Liverpool loan signing Adam Lewis, in his first start for Argyle at left wing-back, opened the scoring in the 11th minute.

Lewis slid in to finish off a low cross into the six-yard area from midfielder Conor Grant.

Sunderland equalised in the 52nd minute when striker Aiden O’Brien headed home a cross from former Argyle player Callum McFadzean.

However, the Pilgrims were not level for long as Edwards curled a shot into the net from a tight angle.

Lowe said: “To concede the way we conceded was good on your behalf but disappoint­ing for us.

“But to react after that and reset, and to go again and to get a second, was fantastic. I’m really pleased.”

Lewis made his full debut for Argyle as he was brought into the side for the suspended Panutche Camara.

He lasted 63 minutes against Sunderland before he started to struggle with cramp and was replaced by midfielder Ben Reeves, with Grant reverting to the wing-back role.

Lowe said: “Credit where credit is due, Adam has only been with us a short while but he has listened and he’s learning every day.

“To see the two wing-backs getting a goal was great. As for Adam, he was a little bit heavy legged there. We didn’t plan on starting Adam early on because we know he hasn’t played many games, and his fitness levels might be a bit different.”

 ?? Dave Rowntree/PPAUK ?? > Adam Lewis celebrates his goal at Sunderland
Dave Rowntree/PPAUK > Adam Lewis celebrates his goal at Sunderland

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