Steven Schumacher always had faith in Plymouth striker Ryan Hardie

Posted Wednesday, February 09, 2022 by PA

Steven Schumacher said he was confident Ryan Hardie would bounce back from his FA Cup penalty miss after the striker stuck Plymouth’s first hat-trick in seven years in a 4-1 win at Crewe.

Hardie’s second-half treble helped Argyle come from behind at relegation-threatened Alexandra with Niall Ennis also on target in the second half.

Chris Long put Crewe ahead in the first half and home keeper Will Jaaskelainen kept out Adam Randell’s spot-kick shortly afterwards.

Hardie, who missed from the spot in extra-time in Argyle’s plucky fourth-round defeat at Chelsea, levelled with a far-post finish and after Ennis punished a mistake by Jaaskelainen to head into an empty net, the Scot rifled a shot into the bottom corner for his second.

He then raced clear and clipped the ball over the onrushing Jaaskelainen for his third in the closing minutes.

Argyle boss Schumacher said: “Ryan is so confident, he believes in his own ability and afterwards [penalty miss] he said he’d score on Tuesday.

“He had our full support as he’s been one of our best players this season and the boys put their arms around him. It was my call for Adam to take the penalty tonight.

“But I was made up for Ryan and it was the first hat-trick scored by a Plymouth player for a long time.”

Argyle are three points off the League One play-off places.

Schumacher added: “I thought Crewe started the game quite well and I was disappointed with the first goal. We didn’t play fast enough in the first half, but we were a lot better in the second.

“We scored a good goal and then their keeper made a bad mistake for the second.

“We feel we should have nine points from the last three away games, but we have seven. The lads are doing well and we are in the pack of 10 clubs up there and we want to stay in there as long as possible.”

Crewe boss Dave Artell confronted his players for 45 minutes in the dressing room after the game.

He said: “That was not reflective of any of my teams over the last five years and it was unacceptable.

“The players are in the wrong club and in the wrong sport if they think it is, and it can’t happen again.

“I asked them if they believed we are going to stay up and if they didn’t I told them to come and see me.

“I told them they won’t play if they don’t believe. There will be no throwing the towel in for sure.

“But we stopped running and Plymouth didn’t have to work hard for their goals. We dominated the first 25 minutes and deserved our lead. We had the penalty save and their lad was lucky to stay on the pitch after kicking out.

“But they had four entries into our box; one shot on goal and three free headers. One was absolutely calamitous and you can’t legislate for that. I told them if any of them thought it was acceptable they should come and see me.”