Revenge is a dish best served Ready Salted

Leicester City 0, Plymouth Argyle 1. Every time I read it I feel so happy I could cry.

A raucous 1500-strong Green Army pitched up at the Walkers Stadium on Saturday evening, but I’m not ashamed to admit I wasn’t one of them. For one, I’m skint, with my attendance currently restricted to home games I’ve already paid for, and for two, Argyle matches being featured on live television is still such a novelty that I like to enjoy it.

Oddly, my own experience of the Ian Holloway Grudge Match™ was in the University of Huddersfield Student Union’s fairly empty bar with three mates – a Blackpool/Celtic fan, and two girls who tried to be interested, with varying degrees of success.

My ecstatic roar at Peter Halmosi’s 34th-minute winner attracted the attention of the venue’s entire clientele, not particularly difficult when it barely ran into double figures. Indeed, I was the only fan of either team present, unless there were some Foxes supporters keeping very quiet…although who could blame them, considering the way their team was thoroughly embarrassed and outmanoeuvred for the majority of the 90 minutes? The only similar sound I heard during the game was a Ghanaian fan celebrating his team’s success over Ivory Coast in the African Cup of Nations’ Third Place Play-Off, which was being shown on another screen.

Watching the green masses packing the visitor’s section and singing the house down at the ‘Crisp Bowl’, and the way Halmosi tore Lionel Messi-like through incompetent blue foes in an unfamiliar role on the right, it was hard to feel anything but pride for the Pilgrim blood flowing from the arteries.

As already predicted on this blog, the Hungarian international will be almost impossible to keep at Home Park beyond the summer unless Argyle can defy the odds and sneak up to the Premiership through the play-offs. Outside of the big boring four, any side would be lucky to have him, and few would begrudge Halmosi a crack at the top flight, given the commitment and excellence he has shown this season.

Jim Paterson also had a good debut on the left. Jimmy Abdou regained the place in midfield he never should have lost and looked solid, while Paul Sturrock finally bit the bullet and tried Argyle’s best strikers together – record signing Steve McLean and the pacy Jermaine Easter, despite neither being the target man he likes to employ. They looked good, with spark and technique Rory Fallon sadly lacks, and the hope must be that Luggy will attempt to rework his footballing philosophies to suit the attractive, attacking, passing football which seems to best suit the resources he has at his disposal.

Ironically, it was Ian Holloway who introduced this style of play, and bought many of the players now employing it. The pained expressions anointing the Bristolian's cheeks on Saturday, at the various points when the Sky cameras focussed on him, were glorious sites to behold, and while Argyle now lie just two points behind the top six, Ollie’s new charges are only three above the drop zone. After watching their disorientated performance, it wasn’t hard to see why. Steve Howard is still as good in the air as ever, but he was generally well dealt with by cult star Kristian Timar, ably assisted by the increasingly magnificent goalkeeping of Luke McCormick. The best home player was probably Barry Hayles, which, considering he was no longer good enough for the Argyle starting eleven when we sold him in January, says a lot for the gulf between the teams.

Press coverage of this game has focussed strongly on Argyle chairman Paul Stapleton’s war of words with Ollie this week, but for now I’d rather concentrate on the important bit. At Leicester, the men in green put together a performance of almost utter control and dominance, played exciting football, and were multipack value for their win. This is a team with sealed-in freshness. But Leicester are looking a bit Tesco Value.

RICH PARTINGTON