Houghton's Accrington Reaction

It was not a conventional post-match interview for Jordan Houghton on Saturday, as injured Pilgrim Danny Mayor made a unilateral call that he would take over as the Argyle TV post-match interview.

An unusual move. But, frankly, it was an unusual day. League leaders Argyle were probably second best to visitors Accrington Stanley before Niall Ennis put the Pilgrims ahead. Then, Dan Scarr of Argyle and Accrington’s Seamus Conneely were both sent for bad tackles – on each other, and in the same incident.

The game became niggly, bitty and stretched, but perhaps the only orthodox thing about the entire occasion was the fact that Argyle took three points after Sam Cosgrove and Ryan Hardie grabbed a goal each in the second half.

As it turns out, Mayor is a handy enough interviewer, and Jordan – after his initial surprise - had this to say to him: “It was probably the messiest game I have ever played in, and probably not a nice one to watch. But the three points is the main thing.

“We know we have got to be better in future games. They were always going to come here and make it tough for us. We’ve got to learn to win games the ugly way, as well as play some nice football. We’ve mixed it up a few times this season, especially away from home. We’ll have to that again during the season.

“We lacked a bit of quality with the ball which is frustrating, but so did they, to be fair. It was quite a frustrating game. The main thing is: we won.”

Argyle return to action next Saturday away to Milton Keynes Dons, a club Jordan played over 100 games for, but before his return to familiar surroundings, Houghton is happy for he and his teammates to get a bit of time to freshen the legs before a busy remainder of October.

“It’s always nice to go back, but Plymouth Argyle’s my team now,” he said of the impending trip to Buckinghamshire. “We’ll go there with three points at the forefront of our minds.

“It’s nice to have a free week, to have a couple of days rest. A lot of boys have had a lot of games, a lot of minutes. We’ve been on a really good run, it’s now time to rest, get some work on the training pitch, and then we’ll look forward to next week, and another tough period of games with some Saturday-Tuesdays.”

The Accrington game was watched by nearly 15,000 members of the Green Army, who likely did not always enjoy a game that never got into a free-flowing stage, but they audibly appreciated their team’s attitude and, ultimately, another win , making it seven from seven at Home Park this season.

“Games like this are frustrating, but they kept with us,” said Jordan. “Those periods of frustration I could feel with them, because they know we can do better.

“They stick with us through the whole 90 minutes, and away as well, so it’s going to be massive, them pushing us through every minute of every game. It’s a long season, I’m sure they will stay with us, and hopefully we can keep this run going for them.”