Derek Adams hoping for another home tie as Plymouth reach FA Cup second round

Posted Sunday, November 11, 2018 by PA

Plymouth Argyle boss Derek Adams is hoping for another home tie in the FA Cup second round following the greens’ 1-0 win over League Two Stevenage at Home Park.

Adams’ League One Argyle won through to round two thanks to a stoppage-time winner from substitute Ruben Lameiras, who came on as a 55th-minute replacement for central midfielder Jamie Ness.

Adams said: “Ideally we will be at home to a side from a lower division as we would like to have the best opportunity of progressing to the third round.”

Adams admitted he was ‘delighted to be through to the next round’.

He added: “I think over the 90 minutes, given the performance we gave, we deserve to be in the next round of the cup.

“The chances we created over the 90 minutes were very good. We probably should have been ahead in the first half of the game through opportunities by Joel Grant, Freddie Ladapo and Graham Carey.

“In the end we have to use Ruben off the bench to get us that victory.

“Jamie Ness has got a calf strain. It was a substitution we were going to make (Lameiras for Ness) so I am a bit disappointed that he did get injured before that.

“He was going to come off and we were going to put Ruben on to play in that 10 role.

“Ruben can finish. He is one of those who can start or come off the bench and make an impact.

“He’s an important player for us because he can change direction very quickly, and he can open up defences and he can score goals.

“Graham probably should have scored in the first half.

“We had to deal with two very tall strikers and I thought we did that very well as well.”

Stevenage boss Dino Maamria said: “It was a tight FA Cup game – both teams wanted to win it.

“I thought in the first half we conceded a lot of possession to them. We allowed them to play a little bit more than we wanted.

“In the second half we started on the front foot and we’ve gone forward trying to nick a winner because it was always going to be a tight game.

“Unfortunately the injury to Steve Seddon threw us a little bit.

“To be fair to Plymouth, they’ve got very good front players – plus Lameiras who came off the bench. They’ve got a good threat there and they are very good going forward.

“We limited them today but they scored a fantastic goal and sometimes there’s not much you can do about it.

“I just thought when Steve Seddon came off we defended a little bit deeper and on the back foot, which invited Plymouth on to us again.

“Our game plan was to weather the storm in the first half because we knew Plymouth would start well with their fans behind them.

“We knew we would have to try in the game and get a foothold in the first half and then go on the front foot at the start of the second half, which we did.”