AFC Wimbledon 0-0 Plymouth Argyle: Match Analysis

As well as being a Villa fan, I am also an avid supporter of Plymouth Argyle and have been for the past 5 or 6 years. I've supported them throughout their whole time in the Sky Bet League 2 and have seen them develop from a relegation battling team placing 21st in both the 2011/12 and 2012/13 seasons to moving up to finish 10th in the 2013/14 season and now are serious candidates for getting promotion into League 1 this season.

The game against Wimbledon tonight was always going to be a fairly equal game as Wimbledon have both Matt Tubbs and Adebayo Akinfenwa who are 1st and 3rd top goalscorers in the league. However, Plymouth have the highest clean sheet tally this season with 8 and Luke McCormick being in goal for all of them making him the keeper to attain the most clean sheets in the league. This was destined to be either a landslide victory to Wimbledon or a 0-0 which I feel was a fair result on the night.

Going into the game, I feel Sheridan (Plymouth Manager) got everything right in terms of set up by starting with a 5-3-2 and moving McHugh into the centre of defense to provide a sweeping role behind Nelson and Hartley. This is different from last week where he played McHugh and Mellor in wing back roles in a more 3-5-2 formation. The 5-3-2 allowed new boy Kellett to get a chance in the first team picture. Even though they were playing five at the back, Plymouth didn't start out by parking the bus and hoping Wimbledon wouldn't score, they were actually the better side in terms of attacking threat with full-backs Mellor and Kellett bombing on and helping out the midfield three. To be honest Kellett actually got himself into some decent positions and even had a few shots on goal, but he did say when he signed that he was "a very attack minded defender".

The midfield three is run by Bobby Reid in the middle who dictates the flow and pace of the game so well, although he isn't the biggest on the physical side of things, technically he is so gifted with his vision and control on the ball he beats players with ease and can play such clinical passes through to the likes of Reuben Reid or Lewi Alessandra. As for the front two; Reuben Reid and Alessandra, they work so well together with Reid using his upper body strength and power to hold the ball up and then play it through to Alessandra who can beat players with his pace and his skill. However Reuben is no slouch either so can make it into the right positions in the box to score goals, Hence why he's top scorer for Plymouth this season.

Overall, Plymouth fought out the game well today and deserved at least a point and considering Wimbledon have scored in every home game this season, which really proves how strong Plymouth's defense has been this season. This is certainly a change from last season where defensive mistakes were our downfall pretty much every game which cost them a shot at promotion last season.