We have to come to places like Plymouth and win

Last updated : 23 March 2009 By Tony Scholes
We're very much at opposite ends of the table with both of us in need of points and the defeat has left Plymouth hovering just above the drop zone. Pilgrims boss Paul Sturrock though believed there was plenty to build on from his team's performance.

"I am absolutely gutted for everybody involved with the football club. We didn't deserve that today," he said. "Our work rate and our attitude, and even the performance as far as passing the ball was concerned, merited more than what we got.

"When you are in this position in the league that is what happens to you. You get the sucker punch and a weak header from one of our players, and it finishes up in the back of the net. We dropped a wee bit in the second half from the standards of the first half as far as service into our strikers and the right kind of ball.

"You can come away from football games and think you've been absolutely hopeless, but this one gives me a cup of hope. If we can bed this team down and work on the things we can hone, we can win football games.

"There are times you go home and browbeat yourself, but I think our fans can at least go away knowing we have shown the proper attitude. I criticised the team last week but the players were on the front foot today.

"The key moment was the Mackie and Barnes chance. If we put that in the net we are 2-1 up. I was disappointed we weren't winning the game at half time. It was even in the second half. They had chances late on in the game but that was when we were 2-1 down and chasing the game quite dramatically.

"I had a sneaking feeling we would go on to win at half time. I think everybody had written us off before this game. Most people would have put Burnley down on the coupon but there wasn't much in the game.

"They are a good side with quality players. I like the way Owen plays the game and I think he is going to get his team in the play offs. I am very hopeful that he can get them promoted."

Back to the game he added: "We had an awful lot of ball in and around their box. It is hard to be positive when you lose a football game but there are positives. Mackie and Barnes had looked very exciting in training and practice matches we had.

"The two of them gave us zest but we didn't get Gall on the ball enough in the second half. We pushed him inside later in the second half and he did get more of the ball.

"It was two zany goals to lose. Marcel Seip is sitting in the dressing room gutted with himself (second goal) and when you are down in this area in the league that is what happens. We have got two weeks now to really bed down this team. I won't be making many changes, if any."

Owen Coyle hailed it as our biggest three points yet as he saw his Burnley side move up to fourth place in the table (we are currently fifth). "There were a few grey hairs, but that is an unbelievable three points, our best of the season bar none," he said after seeing us win our seventh away game in the league this season.

"In terms of trying to get where we want to be, we have to come to places like Plymouth and win. We knew we were going to have to be up for it against a side fighting for their lives.

"You are never going to get an easy game here, but as I say this is our best three points of the season because we are at the business end of the season. What happens in August and September count for nothing now. It's now you have to gather these points and game some momentum and hopefully we are doing all those things."

Coyle continued: "I thought in the first half we scored a great goal and although we weren't as fluent as we normally are, their goal was self inflicted. They had a bit of pressure but I have to say when you analyse the game we have missed about six clear cut chances and young Jay could have had a hat trick himself.

"I can't remember them having too many goalscoring chances and on days like these it's going to be about doing the dirty work because we know there are goals in our team. Thankfully, Robbie came up with one and that's four wins in five now and one defeat in eleven league games as we go into the break. I honestly think we need that now.

"That's 52 games with the smallest squad in the Championship and now we have some players away on international duty. Martin Paterson probably shouldn't have played today with his hamstring, so we need to look at that because he is struggling."

Martin Paterson has since been withdrawn from the Northern Ireland squad for their two World Cup qualifiers.