Wayne Rooney: Plymouth Argyle can compete with best teams in Championship.
The Pilgrims were beaten 1-0 by table-topping West Bromwich Albion at The Hawthorns but Rooney thought there were plenty of positives to come out of the match.
Wayne Rooney described Plymouth Argyle’s 1-0 defeat to Championship leaders West Bromwich Albion as a disappointing result but he thought there had been lots of positives to come out of it.
The Pilgrims shaded the possession in an evenly-contested match at The Hawthorns and had 17 goal attempts – the same as West Brom – but only four of them were on target and their lack of quality in the final third proved costly.
Argyle were calm and composed om the ball for most of the match, apart from a spell after West Brom’s in-form striker Josh Maja scored his sixth goal of the season in the 62nd minute, and did not make life easy for Albion at all.
So it was easy to understand why Rooney took encouragement from his side’s display. “I think it was a close game. We knew it was going to be difficult, West Brom are a very experienced team. So, firstly, we had to make sure we stayed in the game, and I thought we done that well, and then confidence grew and we started taking the ball away from West Brom at good times.
“Of course, both teams had some good chances first half especially, and I was pleased going in at half-time at 0-0. I felt we could kick on and we started second half really well.
“We probably conceded a little bit against the run of play, and then for five or 10 minutes we struggled to get back in the game, but I felt the changes we made allowed us to get control back and push for an equaliser, which we done. We kept going and unfortunately we just couldn’t get it. I’m disappointed with the result but a lot of positives for us.”
Argyle were playing against the Championship leaders for the second successive game, after beating previous table-toppers Sunderland 3-2 at Home Park, and this was another game where they were more than a match for their high-flying opponents.
Rooney said: “We had a really good result and performance against Sunderland. West Brom are now top of the league and it was a good performance and a disappointing result. I think the pleasing thing is we are showing we can compete with the best teams in the league.
“We are more than capable of causing teams problems. We are getting more and more comfortable with the ball, which is pleasing for us, and we look like a good solid group.”
The Argyle head coach sent on Rami Al Hajj for Adam Forshaw soon after Maja had put West Brom ahead, and then made a triple substitution in the 76th minute with Callum Wright, Mustapha Bundu and Michael Obafemi replacing Darko Gyabi, Ibrahim Cissoko and Ryan Hardie.
The Pilgrims did apply some pressure in the closing stages as they chased an equaliser but West Brom held firm as they kept a third successive home clean sheet at the start of the season.
