Match Day Preview: Plymouth Argyle v Newport County

Plymouth Argyle v Newport County

Sky Bet Football League 2, Tuesday 22 October 2013, Home Park (kick-off 7.45pm)

Seven games on from their last League 2 victory on 7 September, Argyle will be desperate to end a frustrating and disappointing run tonight against Newport.

Lying 19th and just two points above the relegation zone, the Pilgrims need to start turning promising displays into victories to avoid another tense battle at the wrong end of the table this season.

Manager John Sheridan remains resolute in his belief in the squad:

“If we keep creating the chances, eventually it is going to turn for us,” he told the club's website.

“We have been playing well – the one thing that has not happened is we are not putting the ball in the back of the net, which is the hardest thing to do.

“But we are creating chances. I am not a massive believer in stats but I have been looking at the stats over the weekend and how we created chances. Over the season, we are about fifth in the league for most chances created.

“I have got to look at that as a positive. But I have got to be realistic – we are not winning football matches; we are losing and we are on a little bit of a bad run."

Saturday's 1-0 defeat at Hartlepool was the latest in a number of disappointments for Argyle, despite some decent performances. A lack of goals is a clear problem - just eight in twelve league games - while Newport arrive on the back of a 3-0 win against York City.

The Welshmen, managed by the former Spurs defender Justin Edinburgh, were promoted from the Conference Premier League last season and lie just a point off the play-off places in what has been a solid start to their League 2 campaign.

The Greens have an opportunity to show their quality and make up some of the gap from their opponents tonight. Sheridan, under pressure to show his methodology is working and to start turning things around, has asked the fans to show their support and stick with the team.

“Stay patient,” he said. “You saw lots of results over the weekend when people scored late goals. It’s about 90 minutes.

“We know we’ve got to try to win games and get on this little run. Unfortunately, in the last three or four games, we just haven’t had the results our performance deserved.”

Fans will hope that tonight will be the start of better things.