Keeping Nothing Back

The delay was made more palatable by the fact that it was caused, inadvertently, by the man who had done as much as any Pilgrim to secure three valuable points at the Keepmoat.

Goalkeeper, captain and man-of-the-match Luke McCormick was unavoidably detained by the FA’s Doping Control Officers. Having sweated plenty in the Argyle cause for the previous 90 minutes, he found providing the necessary sample needed a little time.

The identity of players obliged to take part in the unannounced tests is random, but that did not stop some from jokingly speculating that the reason why Luke was pulled in was that people could scarcely believe that his display in the top-of-the-table clash was not helped by some illicit performance-enhancing substance.

The testers will, of course, find nothing unusual in the sample eventually provided by Luke, whose two outstanding saves epitomised a strong defensive showing by the Pilgrims which moved them one large step closer to promotion to League One.

Luke was happy to attribute his superb performance to his team-mates and the effort that they put in to remain organized at the back. Asked about the fantastic saves he had made during the match, he still remained humble.

“It was a complete team performance,” he said Luke. “We played as a real tight unit, going forward and defending; we all played a part.

“It’s a good working unit that we have. I’m fortunate that I have the lads in front of me and they want to go and defend.

“We’re good when we can sit and frustrate teams, as we did, say, for Liverpool. We filled the gaps and made it very difficult.

“I think that is when we are at our best really because we can go forward and counter, and, as you saw in the second half, we had a couple of good chances. It’s part of our strengths. It was good that we were able to pull off what we worked on throughout the week.

“The boys are happy. There’s a good feeling around the place which is bound to be the case we’re off the back of a very good win against a team at the top of the table and a very important one in terms of our work towards our goal.”

The team seems to be coming together at the right moment with the end of the season only seven games away. They will look to continue to keep up their defensive from in this weekend’s upcoming home game against Accrington. 

“Everyone gets on,” said Luke. “That’s what’s important, particularly being at a club like ours, where you sort of rely on each other. 

“It’s definitely contributed to how well we have done this year.”