Nervous? What, Marvin?

MARVIN Morgan began Tuesday evening on the Plymouth Argyle substitutes’ bench at Cheltenham Town but, before the night was over, he would make a telling contribution.

He was brought on with the score at 3-2 to Argyle, and, although he could not prevent the home side levelling and taking the tie to penalties, Marvin stepped up to take the Pilgrims’ fifth and final spot-kick.

He slotted past home goalkeeper Scott Brown, and it meant Argyle were through to the next round of the Johnstone’s Paint Trophy.

Morgan has been a penalty-taker at previous clubs but, while he has earned the two spot-kicks Argyle have had this season, his strike partner Reuben Reid has taken – and scored – both of them.

“I was actually quite nervous,” Marvin said, of the Whaddon Road shoot-out. “Normally I’m so cool with penalties.

“I’m happy it went in. A win, however you do it, is what you want. It’s good for the Plymouth fans, for those that travel, a bit of excitement with the six goals and a penalty shoot-out.

“The reason why Reuben took that penalty (at home to Rochdale) was that he hadn’t scored yet. So when we got one at Morecambe, he asked me if I wanted the penalty. I said there was no way I was taking them off him when he’d already scored one. ‘Keep it going, and when you miss, I’ll take them’.

“Coming off the bench, even if you are winning 5-0 or losing 5-0, it’s difficult to get up to match tempo. You can be the fittest lad in the world, but you have to get off the ground and running. I think I should have scored at the end; the ’keeper came out and I should have done a bit better. It’s just one of those things.

“It was good to hang on because they had a lot of pressure. Saying that, we were 3-1 up away from home, we should not be conceding a goal, let alone letting them back to 3-3.

“But it’s all part and parcel of the game. I’m enjoying every little bit here, so hopefully I can get a few more goals and maybe get Roobs some more assists for penalties!”

Argyle will want to use the nominal victory as a stepping stone as they face successive home fixtures against Bristol Rovers and Wycombe Wanderers in the coming weeks.

The ranks have been bolstered by the deadline day arrivals of Jamie Reckord on loan from Wolverhampton, and the acquisition of free agent Hamza Bencherif, who has plenty of lower league experience.

“Hopefully we can go on from this and take it into Saturday’s game, because we’ve got a great opportunity with two home games in a row,” said Marvin.

“That’s why Morecambe was so disappointing, because you look back at it and I really do think we should have got something better out of the game. No disrespect, but we should be beating them.

“It’s still a learning-curve for us. We’ve still got quite a young team; we’re growing each game. We’ve got two great signings in Jamie and Hamza.

"I’ve known Hamza for a while having played with him when he was at Macclesfield and Notts County, and he’s always left one on me! He’s a good addition.”