Ryan Lowe hails Plymouth after ending losing streak

Posted Sunday, December 20, 2020 by PA

Plymouth boss Ryan Lowe was delighted with his side as they ended a six-match League One losing run with a 1-0 home win over MK Dons.

Scottish striker Ryan Hardie scored the 68th-minute winner, taking a touch before finishing off from 12 yards after a pass from skipper Joe Edwards.

The win enabled Argyle to leapfrog MK Dons up 14th in the table.

Lowe beamed: “It’s a win and a clean sheet, and we can enjoy Christmas now!

“We set the game plan out for the boys and they nailed it to a T. We said we might have to change a little bit, and the fancy football might have to give up a little touch although I thought we did play some good football today.

“We moved the ball from side to side, worked some good patterns and were on the front foot and right at it from the word go today.

“There will be a small minority of people who will be negative about what we do but we haven’t embedded ourselves in Plymouth Argyle for the short while we are on a journey.

“And the ones who are with us I want to thank because they spurred us on today, whether they were here or at home.

“It’s only three points so I am not getting carried away. We remain grounded but it’s three points against a good MK Dons side and let’s not forget we are still the new boys in this league and on a massive learning curve, and we are learning more every day.

“Today was another massive learning curve about what we will need sometimes in this division.

“I keep saying it ‘tough times don’t last but tough people do’ and we know we’ve got players who will run through brick walls for us. And sometimes that is what you need.”

MK Dons boss Russell Martin felt it was an opportunity missed.

He said: “It was a poor game to be honest. One shot on target from each side, it wasn’t really a classic in difficult conditions. We weren’t great in the first half, we couldn’t get out of the half and the wind was against us.

“But we were resilient and defended the edge of our box well and we limited them to very little. We started the second half well and penned them in and that is how it should have continued.

“We lost our way a little bit, I don’t know why. In games like this you should walk away with a 0-0. Then we are talking about a tough, resolute performance away from home.

“One shot on target and we have conceded which is ridiculous.

“The goal we conceded is poor. So the result today is really frustrating after a fantastic performance on Tuesday.

“It’s a tough place to come against a team that was wounded and we didn’t take advantage of that.

“How many times have we talked about scoring the first goal? It was never going to be a game that was free flowing with lots of chances because of what was riding on it for them.

“It was never going to be a brilliant spectacle and the longer it went on the more you fancied us.”