Today's match reminded me a lot of the one against Blackpool in October when a decent visiting team kept us out for more than eighty minutes only for us to finally break them down in the last ten.
Plymouth played the 4-5-1 formation that has caused us so many problems at Ninian Park in the past and they dominated in the middle of the park for spells as they moved the ball about nicely, but, for the most part, Ledley and Rae did not get overrun like the McPhail/Rae combination often were when faced with an extra opponent in the middle of the park. I think Plymouth will also feel hard done by after what looked a good goal from my less than ideal view was ruled out for offside and they also missed decent chances in both halfs, but we had most of the pressure and, although I'm biased, I thought we just about deserved the win.
Even if he hadn't have scored the goal, I think Jay Bothroyd would have been a reasonable shout for man of the match along with Kennedy and Rae. Gavin Rae looks a far more effective player alongside Joe Ledley than he did alongside Steve McPhail back in October and November and the goal came as a result of the sort of run into the box from central midfield that we were just not seeing a month ago.
So a year which started with a 1-0 home win over Plymouth ends with a 1-0 home win over Plymouth. This win was a battle like last seasons was but we just didn't seem to have it within us to score late goals that won games back then. That said, we weren't far off being a Play off side last season, but there is a resilience and spirit in this team that suggests that, even if I still think automatic promotion is probably a bridge too far, we can do it this around.