Gillepshey's Fleetwood Reaction
Macaulay Gillesphey stressed the many positives to be taken from today’s encounter with Fleetwood Town after the sides played out Argyle’s second 0-0 draw of the 22/23 Sky Bet League One campaign.
Despite dropping down to second in the table, the draw meant the Greens further cemented their position in the automatic promotion places with an eight-point cushion to nearest rivals Ipswich Town.
In a scrappy encounter that saw Argyle dominate for large periods, it was in the game’s final minutes that the Pilgrims looked most likely to break the deadlock. Bali Mumba forced an excellent, save from Town keeper Jay Lynch and Matt Butcher fired narrowly over from the resulting corner.
Gillesphey himself would also shoot over in the dying seconds, and was keen to emphasise the importance of context with a result that extended Argyle’s outstanding home record of just a solitary defeat in 16 home league games.
“It’s not bad at all,” he said. “We can’t win them all. [Home Park] is a tough place to come and play for away teams, the crowd always get behind you.”
“I think every home game you’ve got to go out there and try and score early. We’ve just tried to stay patient and to keep moving the ball as fast we could. But it’s just one of those days we couldn’t take our chances.”
No doubt hindered by the difficult, drizzly conditions that seemed to affect both sides’ ability to transition the ball into the final third, it was naturally the team’s defensive performance that Macaulay was especially proud of.
Callum Burton, deputising for Michael Cooper following his season-ending anterior cruciate ligament injury suffered two weeks ago, made a number of telling contributions, most notably when he smothered the ball from Jack Marriott to prevent Fleetwood from becoming the only side to win both their league matches against Argyle following August’s 2-1 defeat at Highbury Stadium.
Gillesphey said: “We defended very well; from the front as well, the strikers too. It’s obviously good for Cal (Burton) to get his first clean sheet. I’m buzzing for him.”
