Steven positive ahead of Ipswich trip
Steven Schumacher praises his side’s form as an ‘unbelievable achievement’ as they look to make it seven on the spin without conceding, when they travel to Ipswich Town on Saturday.
A win would go a long way to maintaining Argyle’s charge towards the play off places and keep their chances of automatic promotion very much alive.
Speaking more about his side’s form, Steven said, “I think everyone can be quite pleased with how March has gone so far, six wins, six clean sheets on the bounce is an unbelievable achievement.
“We knew we needed to pick up a lot of points, as many points as possible because the run-in is going to be hard
“We’re all excited with the games ahead now.”
The Pilgrims have also boasted an excellent defensive record to pair with their winning ways.
Another shutout for goalkeeper Mike Cooper on Saturday would equal an Argyle record for consecutive clean sheets kept by a goalkeeper.
“Mike, he’s kept six clean sheets in a row,” Steven said, “in all of those games, he had to make a big save at a big time.
“The lads in front of him have to concentrate, they’re having to work really hard. The information that they get given day in, day out from Keith, from Nance… it’s relentless.
“The players are taking it all on board and I know that they’ll be feeling the benefit of it.”
This weekend’s opponents, Ipswich, are a side who have not lost since late January and currently sit ninth in the table.
They are six points off the play off places and only have to play three of the top 10 in their last seven matches.
“It will be a tough game”, Steven said, assessing this weekend’s home side.
“Ipswich has been flying since Kieran McKenna has gone in there.
“They’re in good form and they’ve got some real good players in the squad.”
Talking more about the opposition’s manager, who is two years younger than Steven, he said, “I think Kieran’s done brilliantly, another young coach and I hear he’s a top coach.
“They’ve got a system going that seems to suit them and as I said, they’ve got great players anyway.
“Kieran’s gone in there, got them organised, got them playing good football.
“Hopefully it will be an exciting game for everybody to watch.”
An important factor in the Greens’ success so far has been keeping players fit and ready to play in games both home and away.
Steven gave credit to the people who have made this possible,” We’ve got a medical team and a performance team that do their very, very best to get the players on the pitch every week.
“The lads, training-wise, we can’t put too much through them physically, but we still have to go through the information because we have to be organised going into these big games.
The business end of the season is well underway, and Steven has spoken more about the excitement around the club, “people are talking, dreaming. That’s fine, that’s what we want.
“It’s the best situation you want to be in, we want to embrace that.”
TEAM NEWS
Once again, Panutche Camara and Luke Jephcott will be unavailable for Argyle with both away in international duty.
Saturday’s game will probably come too soon for Dan Scarr, who has returned to first team training this week.
Kayden Jackson missed the draw with Oxford United last weekend due to injury and is likely to be unavailable again for Saturday.
Sam Morsy picked up a knock in the draw with Portsmouth last week but did feature as a substitute on Saturday.
Midfielder Lee Evans is out though.
TICKET NEWS
Tickets are no longer being sold for this match and there is no pay on the day facility at Ipswich.
ARGYLE TV
With the game being selected for international broadcast, no video streaming will be available on Argyle TV. You can find out where the game is being shown where you live here.
We will be providing audio commentary from Portman Road, which will cost £2.50.
