Schumacher's Wycombe Reaction
Argyle beat 1-0 Wycombe Wanderers on Thursday night to solidify their position at the top of Sky Bet League One, but there was a troubling postscript to the game.
Wycombe forward Tjay de Barr was treated by medical personnel for several minutes after the final whistle, and taken to hospital for tests, although a Wycombe update on social media indicated that de Barr was awake and alert.
Argyle boss Steven Schumacher echoed the thoughts of everyone at Plymouth Argyle in sending our best wishes to Tjay and praising the medics for their attention.
Schumacher said: “Just before the end of the game, he ran into Danny Mayor, there was a collision, and he said to the referee he was struggling to breathe. The ref kept checking on him, asking if he was ok, and he said he was.
“When I got to him he was coughing a lot, and he was on his side. The referee said he might have been coughing up blood.
“At the end, it got too much for him and he’s gone down. They checked all his vitals – his oxygen levels and his SATs – and they are quite confident that he is fine. It was a bad one, and quite scary for everyone. It puts the result into insignificance, we wish him well and hope he gets home safe.”
Before that, Argyle had battled to a second single-goal victory over the Chairboys this season, via Dan Scarr’s goal on 33 minutes. Scarr converted, from close range, Adam Randell’s inviting corner, marking the first occasion from which the Pilgrims have scored from a set piece.
“It’s been a long time coming,” said Schumacher. “We’ve had some real big chances, and we looked a threat all night from set plays, they were well designed – credit to Mark Hughes – and the delivery from Rands for the goal and Dan Scarr getting in there was top class. When you get the delivery right, you’ve got a chance.
“We still need to be a bigger threat from set plays, we know that, but to beat Wycombe twice with set-play goals is brilliant, because that’s their big strength as well.”
Scarr’s goal came in a first half in which Argyle were on top, and created numerous chances. The opportunities continued into the second half, but Wycombe rallied, and the closing stages were very tense for the Green Army in the sold-out home sections of Home Park as the Chairboys had a few chances to level.
Argyle held on, though, to a win and a three-point haul that more than satisfied the manager.
“I thought it was a good game,” he said. “We created some really good chances and played well, especially in the first half. The two centre forwards were a threat all night – Sam and Ryan, then Ryan and Niall – they were excellent and gave us something to build from, which is what you need against Wycombe. They keep coming at you, and if you’ve got no-one at the top end of the pitch who can look after the ball then it can be a long night.
“Wycombe have been in brilliant form, they are a good team and playing well at the moment. Our lads had to defend, put their bodies on the line amazingly to keep another clean sheet. We got through a really tough game and managed another big three points which keeps us going in the right direction.
“It was a similar situation on Monday at Cheltenham. Teams throw the ball in the box, it goes down the line a lot, it’s coming in front of the goal and you’ve got to show good character. You’ve got to get people in the right positions.
“The video information we did before the game tonight was exactly that. Some good examples of how we did it against them last time, and a couple of good examples of what we did against Cheltenham.
“That’s important. We know how much talent some of our players have got, the creative players, but they are putting in a real shift and as long as they keep doing that then we’ll have chances to win games."
