Your Bristol City correspondent owes me a fiver

Football - tis funny ole' game, innee??

Or so we say in the deep, dark western depths of Cornwall and Devon. Plymouth Argyle's season has been mystifying, exhilarating, depressing, confusing, and historic in so many ways. Saturday afternoon at Ashton Gate will be one of the more well-remembered landmarks of 2007-8, whatever the eventual outcome of Argyle's promotion push.

Rory Fallon - who, in my post-match anger after the horrors of Scunthorpe, I described as a 'lost cause' - scored twice to give the Greens an ultimately unassailable lead over Westcountry rivals Bristol City, as well as our first victory in Turnipland since (ridiculously) 1931. The pasties and cider taste sweet tonight.

The victory almost seemed inevitable, such has been the almost hallucinogenic nature of results in the Championship – particularly for Plymouth Argyle – this season. Argyle’s 2-1 victory over City, with Lee Trundle’s penalty proving but a consolation for the Robins, to earlier away wins over Watford, Charlton, and Sheffield United (the three parachute payment-assisted Premiership failures of last season), as well as play-off challengers Hull. On the other hand, we lost to strugglers Sheffield Wednesday at home and in the aformentioned game at Scunny, were awful at Preston and couldn’t win at bottom club Colchester.

It is difficult to explain this, of course, but I would argue that the major factors are motivation – which have enabled Argyle to secure victories against teams who should supposedly beat them – and underestimation, similar in many ways, which has seen the Pilgrims fall victim to the same phenomenon which has often benefited us.

This has happened to every team in the league, with the most successful sides being those who have ground out results, with a good structure, a settled side and strong tactical operator in the managerial role, augmented by a few flair players. Bristol City and Stoke City closest fit this dynamic, and thus sit top of the pile – because they are, without doubt, the two most effective sides of all, with Watford on a similar level. The difference between the Hornets and their less fancied rivals does not come in the dugout, where Adrian Boothroyd is as determined and shrewd as Gary Johnson or Tony Pulis. If anything it might be in supporter expectations, with the Hertfordshire club’s fans demanding an immediate return to a top flight they have been occasionally familiar with in the past decade. No such historical millstones for the two Cities, whose last dalliances with the wealthy elite were many moons ago. This has kept the pressure of and both teams have blossomed.

West Brom sit fourth when, as any Argyle fan who saw them dismantle the greens at the Hawthorns a few weeks ago will testify, they would be top if pure technique was the sole barometer. But they have a lacklustre manager, Tony Mowbray, who is happy to get well-paid, skilful players knocking the ball around elegantly and feeding a terrifying array of second-level finishers (Kevin Phillips, Roman Bednar, Ishmael Miller, Luke Moore) but seems incapable of building a side with the grit and organisation to dominate the league as they should. If they secure promotion they are probably best equipped of the challengers to survive, because the Premiership is a very different league. But the Baggies’ elevation looks by no means certain – everyone, including myself, tipped them to go up last year, and yet they still failed with a side containing now-England-star Curtis Davies, football league player of the year Jason Koumas, and the lethal Diomansy Kamara. This seasons team went 1-0 up against Ian Holloway’s collapsing Leicester City on Saturday, had Moore sent off, and promptly fell apart, contriving to lose 4-1 and prolong Ollie’s agony by another week. There’s still a fair chance though of, before the month is over, Mafia Mandaric shunting him forcefully towards the exit.

Argyle aren’t a side full of stars, but we have grit in abundance, if intermittently. Paul Sturrock is still sizing up his squad and whatever happens this season I fully expect the next to be less haphazard and more centrally driven by the idea of promotion. Luggy will know what he wants us to do and how to do it – this season he seems understandably less sure, as the players at his disposal are assessed for both ability and character.

Fallon is one of the major protagonists squarely under the microscope, and has not thus far been a fan favourite, with few among the Green Army greeting even his initial signing which much enthusiasm, let alone what has followed. Leigh Moore, correspondent for the Swindon teams on this site (Fallon played for Town), called him a ‘carthorse’ when we signed him, and for large periods it’s been hard to argue. He was good at home to Southampton in January, netting Argyle’s equaliser, yet it is difficult to remember another match which has ended in glory for the big man. Saturday was the New Zealander’s day, though. First was the snatched, eight-yard finish from a ball across the box which shot past Adriano Basso on the stroke of half time. As big a psychological blow as Zoltan Gera’s scrappy goal had been for WBA against Argyle at the Hawthorns, it stunned City, who had been seemingly dominant up until then.

Just before the hour, a corner bewildered a City defence looking lost without Jamie McCombe, and there was the big Kiwi again to bundle the ball home from less than a yard. They all count.

Despite "what a waste of money" Trundle’s rare goal (it was a handball from Jermaine Easter, but it certainly wasn’t a foul by Russell Anderson which led to the free-kick from which the handball occurred) the Greens held on to defy any pundit you would have asked on Saturday morn.

Credit also must go to emergency signing Rab Douglas, amusingly from Leicester, who made a couple of good stops to preserve Argyle’s lead.

The Westcountry derby was the featured game on this morning’s Championship Goals ITV show, which made a nice change from the 20 seconds of coverage we usually enjoy, but it was made clear from the outset that the men in yellow (again, unfortunately) were not what the London-based cameras had travelled so far west to witness. Instead, Bristol’s supposed great resurgence as a football city was the chosen documentation, with a 19,000, capacity crowd (never mind that 2,000 were greens in the away end, with many more, perhaps hundreds, in the away sections) ready to cheer them to the Premiership. Argyle were, as always to the national media, merely a distraction.

Call me paranoid? Just listen to the tone of the ITV commentator, growing increasingly frustrated at City’s inability to break the visitors down. The result was described as a major shock, but anyone who had seen the return fixture at Home Park would not have been unduly surprised. But for a freak Krsitian Timar own goal that day we’d be celebrating a Westcountry double.

As it is, I can’t pretend that any victory this season will be any sweeter, bar perhaps a play-off final victory over the same opponent…if we did do it, it’d be the most publicity-free promotion of all time.

RICH PARTINGTON

Overview: The Western Rising

Football in the south-west has never had the status and importance of that in other parts of the country. The Westcountry has eight professional football teams, yet none has ever won a major honour. The most successful, Bristol City, experienced their heyday a century ago with runners-up medals in League and Cup, but as recently as 2004 only they and my beloved Plymouth Argyle could even boast third-tier status.

Now things are changing. Argyle won the old Division Two that year and were finally followed into the Championship last season by City. The Ashton Gate outfit have been a revelation, with quick passing football and a formidable home record propelling them to the league’s summit. Most pundits seemed sure they would fall away eventually, but Gary Johnson has made remarkable consistency the trademark of a club which always used to choke when it really mattered. Argyle, much to my delight, are pushing hard for a playoff spot and it is not inconceivable that the Match of the Day cameras could be covering a pair of Westcountry derbies next season.

For Plymouth, the second-largest city in Europe (after Hull) never to have a top-flight team, it’d be a first. Of course, for those raised on the self-preserving Premier League elite, this seems absurd. But Bristol is the seventh-largest city in England, and Plymouth has a larger population than Derby, Portsmouth, and Blackburn to name just three. Both have huge catchment areas which could clearly support top clubs.

And these are not the only two south-western teams on the up. Swindon Town and Bristol Rovers both won promotion last season to join Yeovil Town, and of course Cheltenham Town, in League One. All four should retain their status this year, enabling them to push on afterwards. Cheltenham have risen from utter obscurity a decade ago to challenge Gloucester Rugby for public and media attention in this area.

Rovers have delighted football romantics nation-wide with their FA Cup adventure, with giant-slaying wins over Fulham and Southampton giving them a quarter-final clash with West Bromwich Albion on Sunday. It’ll be tough – the Baggies are the best side I’ve seen in the Championship this term – but with a raucous Memorial Stadium behind them and goalscoring threats Ricky Lambert and Craig Disley in the side, they have a real chance.

Further down, Exeter City, Forest Green Rovers and Torquay United are all vying for elevation from the Blue Square Premier, the Devon sides hoping for a return to their traditional fourth-tier level, and Rovers aiming to become the smallest club ever to play in the football league. Anomaly of the season, though, must be the fact that promotion could actually impact negatively on the finances of these clubs. Fifth-tier sides, now given ample television coverage by Setanta, receive excellent broadcast revenue, and greater media exposure than those in League Two. Added to the dent in attendance figures from a likely season in the middle or the lower reaches of the table, as opposed to a play-off race, and you can see why some have darkly suggested it might be better if Torquay and co remain where they are.

Look out, too, for Truro City. The ‘White Tigers’ from the Cornish capital are backed by millionaire property developer Kevin Heaney, who aims to give the peninsula a league side by 2017. They won the FA Vase at Wembley in May in front of an astonishing crowd of 27,754, and stormed Western League Division One last year, winning 37 of their 42 games and scoring 185 goals. Striker Stewart Yetton (formerly of Plymouth) bagged 72 himself, as well as 36 so far this season, and is a prime example of City’s successful policy of cherry-picking the best players from non-league and professional reserve sides in the area. Truro were installed as 2-7 favourites to win the 2007-8 Western Premier and have not disappointed, currently sitting five points clear. Next season they should go up to Southern League Division One, with four additional promotions needed to realise Heaney’s dream.

RICH PARTINGTON

Outplayed but never outsung

Twelve hours ago I awoke with the fuzzy, spreading glow of hope that the 2007-8 season may turn out to be the greatest in Plymouth Argyle’s history. And despite the 3-0 mauling the Greens got at West Bromwich Albion today, it refuses to leave me. Because the almost carnival atmosphere present amongst the 3000 travelling Pilgrims swarming to the Hawthorns provided a clear marker of the positive momentum which has already been accrued. This defeat felt like little more than a setback, and one achieved by an overly numerous margin.

As silver linings go, comprehensively outshouting your opponents from the stands is not to be sniffed at. From well before kick-off, in the pubs and streets of Sandwell, Westcountry accents bawled out all the old favourites and KC & The Sunshine Band-inspired newies. The 19,000 home fans were relatively subdued throughout proceedings, and even after each goal their Boinging seemed oddly restrained. The Green Army were able to eagerly indulge in mocking chants of the "worst support we’ve ever seen" variety, while, in contrast, proding a level of verbal support which was frankly astounding.

The effect of this on players like Paul Connolly and Kristian Timar was immediately obvious. The Baggies were clearly the more technically proficient side, but Argyle outfought them for large parts of the first half, until lacklustre defending allowed Zoltan Gera to scramble home on halftime. A sickening blow for Argyle, a slightly below-par visiting side failed to recover, and Uriah Rennie’s big club refereeing and two more scrappy goals put paid to our hopes.

But we roll on, now effectively joint-sixth with Ipswich, and Tuesday’s home clash with demotion-doomed Colchester United assumes significant importance. The line-up requires refreshment; Steve McLean currently looks lightweight and lacking in confidence, a pair of accusations which it would be unthinkable to level at Jamie Mackie – whose flashes of brilliance during limited runouts from the bench deserve greater exposure. Even today, with his team-mates low on ideas and drive with the game already lost, Mackie beat defenders, won free-kicks, and was unlucky not to be given a penalty after being clattered eight yards out. He deserves a full test alongside the hardworking Jermaine Easter.

Gary Teale is also yet to impress, while his second-half replacement today, Chris Clark, looked sprightly on returning from injury. Let’s hope the change is effective from 7.45pm in midweek.

Argyle should beat Colchester, but either way there is a new spirit and verve among fanbase and players which promises to bring greater glory.

RICH PARTINGTON