Argyle resilience delights Schuey in Lincoln draw
STEVEN Schumacher was pleased with the way his Plymouth Argyle side came through some tricky periods as they fought out an entertaining 1-1 League One game against Lincoln City at the LNER Stadium.
It was a big improvement on their uncharacteristically poor performance in the 5-1 FA Cup defeat away to Grimsby Town and saw them extend their uneaten run to 14 league games.
Midfielder Adam Randell shot the Pilgrims into a 32nd minute lead with his third goal in the last five games, but Max Sanders equalised for the Imps in stoppage time at the end of the first half.
Schumacher said: “I thought it was a good game of football. Credit to Lincoln they made it really tough for us. The commitment that they showed and the energy they played with made it hard for us to get any sort of rhythm in the game.
“But’s that what we are going to come up against away from home. We are top of the league, everyone understands the quality that we have got and they are going to have to work really hard to try and stop us.
“Both teams had spells where they were on top and created some good chances and in the end we are probably happy with a point - another one on the board.”
Argyle opened the scoring when
Bali Mumba hit a low cross into the Lincoln penalty area and after Niall Ennis had a shot blocked the ball ricocheted out to Randell and he drove it low past Carl Rushworth.
Schumacher said: It was a great goal. It’s a part of Adam’s game that he is developing. He works hard on it in the training sessions, hitting the target from outside the box.
“He has got a lovely strike on him. We just felt that if we ever got opportunities to get in behind Lincoln the cut back crosses were on.
“We worked on that this week and thankfully the ball fell to him on the edge of the box and it was another great strike so really pleased for him. It keeps his tally going because a midfield player who can score goals becomes really valuable.”
Argyle were on the brink of taking a 1-0 lead into the interval when Sandesr smashed an unstoppable shot high into the net after a Lincoln corner.
Schumacher said: “It was disappointing. It came from our corner, where we got counter-attacked on and there was a mistake from Bali (Mumba) on the halfway line and they get a corner.
“It was a well-worked corner from them. It was a great ball from the lad who took it, it was a superb touch and a brilliant finish.
“You can’t stop everything. Nigel (Lonwijk) was unlucky not to get a touch on it and get it away from their lad. Sometimes you have got to hold your and up - it was a great finish.
“It gave them a little bit of a boost right before half-time but I thought we reacted quite well. We came out second half and started okay so not too disappointed with it overall. Another good point.”
Schumacher added: “Michael (Cooper) made a couple of good saves. Their keeper (Carl Rushworth) pulled one out from Ryan Hardie, right under the crossbar.”
Unusually for the Argyle manager, he was critical of the performance of referee Craig Hicks and claimed that the visitors should have been awarded a penalty late after a challenge on Morgan Whittaker.
Schumacher said: “I don’t normally complain about decisions because I’m not that type of person but we had a penalty decision go against us in the last minute here last year that was outside the box (in a 2-2 draw).
“It was a very competitive game today but I thought the referee was a bit soft with some of the fouls that he gave to Lincoln. I didn’t think we got our fair share.
“Morgan is saying there was definitely contact on him in the box. We have looked back at it and it looks like it’s a penalty, so I’m a bit disappointed with that, we could have nicked it at the end but it wasn’t meant to be.”
Argyle stayed four points clear at the top after second-placed Ipswich Town drew 1-1 at home to Cheltenham Town while Sheffield Wednesday, in third, were 1-0 winners away to Accrington Stanley.