Source: Team_Talk
Mariner seeks postives from defeat
Plymouth's second-half domination saw them force goalkeeper Andy Lonergan into a handful of crucial saves, but the home side held out for the win.[LNB]Mariner said: "The players have been absolutely incredible. It's been a traumatic week.[LNB]"I'm used to winning, I love winning, but from what I saw this afternoon it put a smile on the faces of the supporters who travelled a great distance to watch the game. It definitely put a spring in the step of the players.[LNB]"We devised a system that will suit the players and we worked on it for an hour. When we went in at half-time I was completely honest with the players. I thought we needed a little more quality on the ball.[LNB]"They responded magnificently and the second half was a joy. I saw players playing with incredible energy and passion.[LNB]"The passing was good technically, everything was coming together. We put Preston under a great deal of pressure.[LNB]"But the way we conceded the two goals was very poor, almost schoolboy errors.[LNB]I think the one thing we must remember is that the second-half performance was quite excellent and I thought we gave them some concerns."[LNB]Plymouth have now lost their last four games without scoring, while Preston's win was only their second in 12 games.[LNB]North End manager Alan Irvine said: "I hoped a win was coming. I certainly felt we got close to winning games recently but have not done it.[LNB]"Maybe a lot of people turned up thinking it was a foregone conclusion that we would win the game. Plymouth lost their last three games 1-0, two of them in injury time, but they have played well, looked very dogged, resilient and organised.[LNB]"We knew we would have to play at a really good tempo and get the ball into dangerous areas quickly in order to open them up a little bit.[LNB]"We had an excellent first half. We didn't really have much to worry about defensively.[LNB]"We did create some more chances in the second half but obviously we were put under pressure at times as well.[LNB]"Our problem of late has been putting the ball in the back of the net. It's a big relief for everybody when you manage to hit the net."[LNB]It was a case of second time lucky for Richard Chaplow, who opened the score in the 10th minute. He sliced his initial attempt but gathered the rebound to fire in from the edge of the area with the aid of a deflection.[LNB]There followed an incredible miss by Jon Parkin in the 25th minute. Parkin headed onto the bar and with goalkeeper Romain Larrieu on the floor, headed the rebound straight at him.[LNB]Preston went 2-0 up a minute later as Ross Wallace collected a return pass from Chris Brown to slot his shot home with his right foot.[LNB][LNB][LNB]
