Cosgrove's Morecambe Preview

Sam Cosgrove is hoping that Argyle will be buoyed by the positives and will heed recent negatives as they play Morecambe at Home Park on Saturday.

Argyle have had a series of draws on the road, at Lincoln City, Burton Albion and, most recently, Cambridge United, as well as a loss at home to Port Vale the last time they took to the Home Park turf.

At Cambridge, Cosgrove played in a front two with Ryan Hardie, and came as close as anyone to breaking the deadlock, with a looping header that hit the crossbar. However, the game ultimately finished 0-0.

Sam said: “The run we’ve been on has not been the best, it’s been a little bit disappointing, but the good thing is we are still touching distance of the top. The focus is on getting three points at the weekend.

“There’s been a few games recently that haven’t gone our way. Earlier in the season we were dominating and dictating games, the way that we wanted to. Recently, through no fault of our own, we’ve been dragged into the way that other teams want to play.

“There were plenty of positives at the weekend. We stood up well, we battled well, and came away with a clean sheet. We just couldn’t quite the goal to win the game.

“It was nice to have Ry up there, we could share the load between us. I was probably dropping bit deep and trying to compete for the ball more, and letting Ry do his natural game and run in behind. At times it worked well and we created some chances. On another day we could have got the goal to win the game.”

Morecambe travel to Devon during a week that has seen freezing temperatures all over the country, and forced the postponement of Tuesday night’s scheduled Papa Johns Trophy against AFC Wimbledon.

Despite some disruption to the week’s plans, Sam says he and the squad are all solely focused on banishing the memory of the 2-0 defeat to Port Vale when Morecambe visit.

“The game against Port Vale was a blip,” said Sam. “It was an anomaly in the way this season has gone. We’re just looking to put it right, and hopefully in front of a parked Home Park we can do just that.

“There’s no easy game in this division. Even though Morecambe are down at the foot of the table, we will pay them massive respect. We have got to learn from the last couple of weeks that we are not going to get it all our own way and just win every week. Sometimes we have to put in dogged performances and grind out wins like we were at the start of the season.  

“Most of the squad have been professionals for years now. There are multiple disruptions, no matter what they are, so a bit of cold weather certainly isn’t stopping us. We’re just looking forward to getting back on the pitch again.”