Schumacher's Swindon Reaction

As a pre-season that has featured more good things than bad ended in a 3-1 defeat at Swindon Town, Argyle manager Steven Schumacher sought to turn the negative into a positive.

After a goalless first half, Argyle shipped two quick goals to the Robins, and despite hitting back through Morgan Whittaker’s third goal in three games, saw a late breakaway goal consign them to defeat.

It was the first loss of the pre-season campaign, but with the Sky Bet Championship season a week away, Schumacher is philosophical about then timing of the defeat.

“I'd rather lose like that today than next week,” he said. “We've got seven days to think about it, work on a few things and do the basics better.

“It was not the way we wanted to end the pre-season. We've been pretty good in pre-season so far. We've been quite consistent and have got better each game that we've played. Today wasn't that type of day. We didn't play very well. We didn't get to grips with the game from early on.

“There’s a few lessons to be learned from today. We said to the lads at half-time that we defended quite well, our shape was pretty good. Swindon didn't create too many chances [in the first half] so it didn't cause us too many problems. We didn't cause them enough problems as well.

“We had one or two good bits of play, but the lads were saying it was tough to play on the pitch. It was quite dry, and the wind was really against us in the first half, but we said, okay, second half, it's going to be the opposite way around. Let's see if we can be a bit more positive, but they've scored from a set play and then we've made mistakes then for the other two goals.

“It was disappointing on the goals we conceded, but I just didn't think we played as well as we needed to today with the ball either.

“I'm not bothered about the results; that's not what pre-season's about. Pre-season’s about looking at a few things, trying to figure out what your players are capable of, what we need to do and what areas we need to strengthen and improve.

“From that point of view, today is something that we can learn from. If you go and win every single game and don't get asked any questions, then you can go into the season not knowing.”

Midfielder Lewis Warrington pulled on the green and white for the first time as he started the game in the centre of midfield, three days after joining on loan from Everton. The game also gave an opportunity for Tyreik Wright to come off the bench, having spent some time on the treatment table of late.

Of Warrington, Schumacher said: “I thought he did okay. He's only been here a couple of days, so he needs to get to know everyone, get to know how we're going to work and what's needed from him.

“I thought he was composed enough on the ball. Defensively, he did okay, that's a positive. Getting Tyreik right back on the pitch was a real positive too. I thought he looked bright when he came on and Morgan scored another brilliant goal.

“There were some good signs early on in the game. We made a few nice little patterns of play and caused them one or two problems. In general, just probably wasn't good enough.”

The start of the season is now truly on the horizon. Argyle’s opening game, against Huddersfield Town, takes place on Saturday, 5 August, at a sold-out Home Park.

The hard work of last season’s title-winning promotion season, as Argyle escaped League One with 101 points, will now come to fruition as the Greens take on the second tier for the first time in 13 seasons.

“I can't wait,” said Schumacher. “It's going to be a good occasion. First game back in the championship for a long time, and we need to make sure that we're ready.

“We will try to put on a good performance and try to get three points that we're going to need. If we can get off to a good start at home, then perfect. We know it's not going to be easy. Huddersfield are going to come and make it difficult for us. They've been a Championship team for a long time now.

“We know we're going to have to be at our best and perform better than we did today.”