Grant's Accrington Reaction

Conor Grant limped from the field at Grimsby Town on Saturday, 5 November.

It is a day he no doubt remembers as a particularly sour one. Argyle’s performance that day, a damp squib if ever there was one, as they lost 5-1 and exited the Emirates FA Cup, was hardly their finest, and on a personal level Conor was suffering yet another injury setback.

It was impossible not to feel for the hard-working, likable wing-back as he just seemed to be getting up to speed following an injury that had prematurely concluded one season and ruined his start to the next.

So much has happened since that early November day in not-so-sunny Cleethorpes - not least a Grimsby cup run that ended only last weekend – but it has taken from then to now for Grant to be present on a team sheet again.

C Grant was inked in as a substitute at Accrington Stanley on Tuesday night, and up went the number 15 on 74 minutes of a crucial game.

Argyle led 1-0 after Matt Butcher’s heavily deflected opening goal, and Stanley’s Mo Sangare had been sent off, but the home team were pressing Argyle back and, despite their numerical and scoreline disadvantage, were the side looking most likely to notch.

Grant was sent on with instructions to get on the ball, keep it and use his experience to settle the Pilgrims. He settled them in the best way. Four minutes after his introduction, Grant latched onto Danny Mayor’s pass and guided home Argyle’s second goal.

Shackles off, the Greens finished strongly, and came away jubilant, with three points that returned them to the top of Sky Bet League One.

After the game, it was apparent just how much the return and the goal had meant to Conor.

“I’m made up to be back,” he told Argyle TV. “Just to be back on the pitch in general, but to top it off with a goal is a special feeling.

“I’m a little bit emotional because of what I’ve been through, and the road it’s taken to get back, but I’m really happy.

“As soon as you get the call, you go into a zone where you’ve got to do your job. I knew I had to come on and calm things down. They had a little spell where they were putting quite a lot of pressure on us, even with ten men.

“We weathered it well, and my instructions were to get on the ball and calm the game down a little bit. As the game opened up, chances were there.

“We’ve got a good connection and a good relationship with each other, so I knew as soon as Danny got the ball he would drive and find the perfect weight of pass. All I had to do was run straight, take a touch and drive it across goal. Luckily it went in.

“It’s an unbelievable moment. It’s surreal.”

The setting was a fitting one, too. Grant’s father is an old team-mate of Accrington manager John Coleman, so Conor has known the Stanley gaffer, a man with over 1,000 games in the Accrington dugout to his name, literally all of his life.

His loyalties, obviously, are to Argyle, which Conor demonstrated in the finest way possible. However, the emotion of his connection beyond the pitch, as well the journey along the sometimes-dark road to recovery, gave the evening an extra edge for Grant, who also had family within the Green Army.

He said: “It’s always a bit of a strange game for me because of the connections I have got with John Coleman and John Doolan, the first-team coach. They’ve gone amazing things for me in my life. I owe them a lot. It’s a strange feeling coming onto the pitch against them, but when I cross the white line, the full focus is on my team. I was delighted, but there is a mixture of emotions.

“At the start of the rehab, I knew it was a long-term injury. You can put it away and focus, but once you start training and building up, each week that passes you are a step closer. In recent weeks I have been in full training and I have felt good, so I wanted to get back on the pitch.

“Tonight I did, and in the perfect way.”