Schumacher's Oxford Reaction

When Oxford United’s Cameron Brannagan scored an equaliser towards the end of the first half, it rather underpinned Steven Schumacher’s half-time team talk.

Despite the fact that his Argyle side had, until that point, led 1-0 thanks to Matt Butcher’s goal, Schumacher felt the Greens needed to go up a gear after the break.

And they did.

Oxford remained a threat, but Argyle nullified that before taken the lead via a debut goal for Saxon Earley. The Pilgrims sealed the match in injury time via Ryan Hardie’s 14th goal of the season, and satisfied their manager, who saw the improvement he had demanded.

“We got off to a decent start then lost our way a little bit,” said Schumacher. “It was a little bit sloppy for our liking and our standards.

“I was already planning on, not losing my rag, but saying to our players that I didn't think the standard was good enough in the first half. We played okay for the first 20 or 25 minutes maybe, but then I just felt we just got a bit sloppy and some of the passes weren’t connecting when they should, some of the second balls that we would expect us to land on, we didn't.

“I was planning on livening a few up, if I'm honest, and then the goal just allowed me to go even more.

“I don't normally lose my temper, but I did a little bit at half time. I just thought that if we were at our level, our proper standard, the way we we'd been playing, then we might have too much for Oxford, but we let them back into the game.

“They've got a good team. They've got really good forward players who, if you give them chances, can punish you.

“I thought that they played quite well tonight. They were always in the game. That we didn't kill it off until injury time shows how close it was.

“Thankfully, in the second half, we were a lot better. The players responded.

“In the second half we looked like a team who did the basics well; defended when we needed to and showed some good bits of quality when we needed to.”

Earley’s strike capped off a huge day for the 20-year-old, signed from Norwich City in the January transfer window. Until being picked in the starting line-up at Oxford, his Argyle playing career had been limited to a couple of late minutes as a substitute at Bolton Wanderers on 7 January.

Tasked with playing at left wing-back, Earley showed a competitiveness and willingness to get forward which caught the eye, even before he forced himself upon a Sam Cosgrove cross to give Argyle the lead for the second time on the night.

Naturally, his manager was delighted.

“It's a brilliant day for him; I'm so pleased for him,” said Schumacher. “Since he came to the club, every day that he's trained, he trains exactly how he plays. We knew that about him when we signed him. He must be the worst person to have it train against because he’s a hundred miles an hour.

“He's an honest lad. The report that we got back from Andy Hughes at Norwich said ‘he’ll run all day for you. The information that you give him, he'll try and carry it out.’

“If he was ever going to score a goal, it was going to look like a tackle! I'm so pleased for him. He's a great kid and he's had to wait patiently. As have a few others at the moment while the team are doing so well.”

Fitting that description to a T is midfielder Matt Butcher. The growth of Argyle’s squad following January’s business, including the emergence of Jay Matete, has meant Butcher has found football hard to come by in 2023, being left of the match-day squad of 18 at times.

However, he was picked to start against Portsmouth on Saturday, and excelled, before following up with another fine performance at Oxford, including getting his first Argyle goal.

“I can't speak highly enough of Butch,” Schumacher said. “He's a brilliant professional. He's a great lad. All the lads get on really well with him.

“He’s played really well for us throughout the season. He's found himself out the squad since January a couple of times. I had to leave him out because I've got four really capable midfield players. For whatever reason I've made decisions and he's had to miss out.

“Every time he's been left out, I've tried to explain the reasons behind it, and he comes back and puts in super performances like that. In my opinion he has been our best player for the last two games. I'm delighted he got his first goal for Argyle. Everybody else should look at him as an example.”