Schumacher's Derby Reaction

As Argyle’s players finally began to leave the field, after celebrating their come-from-behind 2-1 win over Derby County, it seemed that a brief flurry of snow fell on Home Park.

Nothing, though, was going to pour any ice over the Green Army, the squad or the management after another incredible night at the Theatre of Greens, where the stage once again played host to night of drama Pinter, Beckett and Stoppard could only dream of curating.

The sleety downpour simply evaporated as it fell onto the likes of Callum Wright, who warmed everyone up with an equalising goal very quickly after leaving the bench, and the red-hot Ryan Hardie, who scored his 17th goal of the season from the penalty spot to give Argyle a win that looked unlikely after Nathaniel Mendez-Laing had given Derby a deserved lead after the opening act.

Home Park may be a stage, but this crop of men in green shirts are no mere players. Steven Schumacher – manager, director, conductor and set designer all in one – knows fine well what his cast are about.

He said: “That second half performance, in my opinion, is everything that this club should be about. Fans right behind the team, the team fighting for every ball, passing the ball really well, being exciting to watch and going away with another huge three points.

“I had full faith in [Hardie]. He's in really good form at the moment. He's full of confidence and he practices his penalties every day.

“When he gets them, you're confident that he's going to strike it well, and he did.

“At this moment in time, you don't want anybody else on it. He's on fire – as the crowd were singing at the end - and long may that continue."

Hardie may be considered the leading man, but there is no such thing as an understudy in the Argyle ensemble. The rotating cast of characters this time included James Bolton, on at half-time and as dependable as you like, and a late cameo by the irrepressible Niall Ennis.

Between their arrivals, enter Callum Wright and Jay Matete, just before the hour mark. If you need an indication of their impact, Wright scored two minutes after coming on, and Matete was given the man of the match award by the evening’s sponsors and by the Green Army on special media, despite playing approximately 39 minutes, such was his breathless performance.

“I thought we played really well,” said Schumacher. “It took us 10 minutes to get into the game, but once we settled down and actually started passing the ball to a green shirt, then I thought we looked ok.

“In the first half, we just didn't get enough shots away. We only had three, with 60% possession. We said, second half, if we can move the ball a bit faster and get into that final third, show a bit of quality, then we'd have a chance.

“For the last half an hour of the first half, we played quite well. We passed the ball well. Things just fizzled out a little bit.

“We went to a back four, and we got three number tens on, to see if they could deal with the three quality players in there. Thankfully they didn't.

“We change our shape, Callum scores and gets us back in the game, and then I just felt that we grew in confidence. We felt that if we played with that speed and that tempo, then they were going to struggle to stay with it. They've got a real different balance of a squad.

“They’ve got older players who get tired late on in the game and real young players, who might get nervous, so we took full advantage of it.

“We believed that if we keep playing at that tempo that we did, and the lads put in that effort, then we felt we'd have a bit too much energy for Derby tonight, and thankfully we did.”

As a curtain call, the players and staff gathered to acknowledge their public who were, from the balconies to the stalls, dancing in the aisles.

For the fourth time this season, the Sky Sports cameras saw Home Park in jubilant mood, a sense of disbelief and belief all rolled into one. ‘Now you’re gonna believe us…’ they sang, in a familiar refrain.

Indeed, why not believe? Schumacher is clearly not getting carried away, but he was full of praise for another sell-out crowd’s backing and patience.

“They are getting excited; selling out every week says that,” he said. “What we can be most pleased about tonight, in particular, is that even though we go behind, I didn't feel as though anyone was on the players’ backs.

“They still kept trying to support because they've seen us do that before, where we've been behind, figure it out at half time, try and do something about it, and the players have gone out there and executed again.”

The script was perfect. The performance lived up. The drama unmatched. 

Eleven encores remain.