Plymouth Argyle midfielder’s honest take after 'up for it' Sheffield Wednesday prevent record breaking result

Plymouth Argyle’s Jordan Houghton says Sheffield Wednesday ‘were up for it’ when the two sides met, admitting that they knew it was going to be tough.
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Callum Paterson scored the only goal of the game on Saturday as the Owls won 1-0 to go top of League One, with the visitors losing both Dan Scarr and Michael Cooper to injury in the first half.

Houghton, who played every game in their impressive 12-game unbeaten away run prior to visiting Hillsborough, was pleased with how they reacted to their early setbacks.

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“It was a battle in midfield,” he told the club’s channel, Argyle TV. “Their high intensity in midfield is key to the way they play. They win a lot of tackles, so it was very difficult to get the ball down. I thought in the second half though, we did that a lot more.

“In hindsight you can say we should have done that a bit more in the first half, but they were up for it, they've got that bit more energy. It was always going to be difficult to do what we did in the second half in the first half, but that's where we've got to get to.

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“When you sum up the whole game, going 1-0 down early and losing two key players in the first half, I think a lot of teams would've folded, and could've ended up losing three, four or five.

“I think the fans showed it as well at the end. They were clapping us off. I think they were proud of the performance we put in with all the things that went against us.”

Jordan Houghton of Plymouth Argyle - who lost to Sheffield Wednesday at the weekend. (Photo by Alex Davidson/Getty Images)Jordan Houghton of Plymouth Argyle - who lost to Sheffield Wednesday at the weekend. (Photo by Alex Davidson/Getty Images)
Jordan Houghton of Plymouth Argyle - who lost to Sheffield Wednesday at the weekend. (Photo by Alex Davidson/Getty Images)
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Houghton also said that they were keen to move on from the defeat now, using their experience to make sure they don’t let things snowball after losing top spot.

The 27-year-old went on to add, “Obviously, we didn't get the result, but it was a second half that I feel we could have easily nicked maybe a goal to get the draw, but it’s small margins. We've just got to now move on and take that into the next game.

“We want to go to places like this. We came to this place knowing that we could win. We have the mindset, the mentality now of going to every ground knowing we can win. We have to take confidence knowing that I don't think there'll be another team that come here and do what we did with the adversity as well.

“The experienced boys in the squad - and I'd put myself down as one of them now – know that we've got to help the young lads knowing that the games aren't always going to be pretty.

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“These kind of top of the table clashes going into the last few games of the season are always similar to this where they are high intensity. You've got to win that battle and then try and show a bit of quality.

“We just have to take a positive from it. Now we've got to go on another run to get promotion.”