Leeds United (H) | Waine's Reaction

‘Positive’ would be an excellent word to describe Ben Waine.

The New Zealander got his first start under Head Coach Ian Foster in Argyle’s 2-0 defeat to Leeds United and, in his central striking role, put in an action-packed performance to give the Leeds backline a difficult afternoon.

In fact, all over the field, Argyle made life tough for United, and although the visitors ultimately won the game to take their winning run to eight in a row, they would have left Home Park knowing they were in a contest.

It was notable that when asked about the game, Waine used the word ‘positive’ on more than one occasion, reflecting the fact that over several games in recent weeks against one of the best sides in the division, Argyle have been competitive.

“I'd see it as a huge positive,” said Waine. “I think we held our own and we did have semi-opportunities to keep ourselves in the game.  I think the important thing was that we kept it at 1-0 at half-time, then we came out and we gave it a real good crack. We can take the positives from that. 

“Sometimes, when you play a team so often, you figure each other out and it can be a bit of a stalemate, but I thought it was quite an exciting game.

“It's a bit of a tough one, 2-0. I don't think it looks like a 2-0 game at all if you actually watch it, but we'll move on from that and we've got a big game on Tuesday.”

The positivity from Waine was reflected by the Green Army, who were in excellent voice, particularly as they recognised their team pressing for an equaliser at the beginning of the second period.

Waine came perhaps the closest, throwing himself at a left-wing cross by Mickel Miller, and only just failing to get significant contact.

“I felt it skim something,” said Waine. “I'm going to have to watch it back. I think it might have nicked a stud.

“I think I did well [in the game]. I'll take some confidence from that. I've had to be patient to get that opportunity. I'm happy with what I did, but as a striker, you always want to score goals and I was close. It's something I will look at, and I'll take the positives from that as well.

“I think that was special period in that game; I haven't felt that in a while. The crowd were behind us. Every attack, they were roaring. A lot of lads were saying it gave them an extra boost, so you can only put that down to the support and the fans, that was a huge positive and hopefully, next time, we'll capitalise.”