Plymouth Argyle 0-2 Ipswich Town: Karl Fuller's verdict

That was not a bad weekend, was it?

Apart from a late Southampton winner, it was about as perfect as we could expect.

I must admit, I was not too hopeful of a win at Plymouth. And that was totally against my ultra-positive mindset of the past 18 months.

Firstly, recent memories of trips to Plymouth have not been great. They did seem to have a small hold over us at Home Park.

Kieran McKenna acknowledges the travelling Town fans at Home Park. (Image: PA)

The absence of Wes Burns and Nathan Broadhead had me wondering if we would lose our spark going forward.

I also worried that our usual changes later in the game would be weakened with enforced changes to our starting line-up.

Throw in the absence of Massimo Luongo, and I really felt a point would be a great outcome.

But what do I know! I should have known better and trusted my beliefs of the season so far that this squad is just so special.

I will tell you what made this even sweeter, there were a couple of moments that were straight out of the Plymouth Argyle textbook.

Conor Chaplin celebrates after breaking the deadlock at Plymouth with a heavily deflected strike. (Image: PA)

Firstly, much of their success last season was aided by several loanees that they were able to call upon. It had some fans labelling them as Loan FC. It was needs must on Saturday for Town that we would go there with four loanees in our starting line-up.

Every one of those four players are giving as much to the shirt as any permanent member of the squad. I never thought that I would see a January signing make such an impact as Marcus Stewart did back in 2000, but Kieffer Moore has proved to be just as fruitful to date. I know we will have George Hirst back for next season, but I would not be against trying to find a way of signing Moore permanently.

The other poetic moment of Saturday was a deflected goal contributing to our win. It went a long way to erasing the memory of Bali Mumba’s late deflected leveller at Portman Road last season.

Though that was not in the tenure of Plymouth boss Ian Foster, he referred to Brendan Galloway’s own goal as a ‘freak’ goal. What comes around goes around hey, Ian? 

Not since October 2003 have Town won five Championship games in a row. The fifth game of that sequence was a 4-3 win at Crystal Palace. Who will ever forget Shefki Kuqi’s goal in that game?

Harry Clarke celebrates after Ipswich secured their fifth league win in a row. (Image: PA)

Back to how good Saturday was. Is it too early to say this day could prove to be pivotal? Are we going to witness a mirrored finale to last season?

When Leeds only drew at Huddersfield, it did lighten my nerves a little ahead of our game. Then, who would have thought that Queens Park Rangers would win at Leicester City? 

The way we have reeled in the league leaders is nothing short of phenomenal. Let me remind you, just four weeks ago, we were 18 points behind Leicester, albeit with two games in hand that still had to be won.

If Tuesday night’s results go our way again, and with the benefit of an early kick-off on Saturday, we could be top of the league by the time Leicester visit Hull City. Yes, I am getting far ahead of matters, but I am just painting how rosy the picture could become.

Would you bet against our boys winning the next two games? I do not know how Kieran McKenna and his staff keep concentrating on just the next game, but we are going to have to somehow do the same. We have 11 huge matches coming up now.

One other fine moment from Saturday was that Moore’s goal was the 200th league goal of McKenna’s time with the club. It's 200 goals in 104 games. A win percentage of 59% now in place thanks to 61 wins.

I do not know where this all ends. We simply must savour every moment. Bottle it up and enjoy it for all it is worth. It is not normal. Bristol City visit tomorrow evening. Can we pick up a sixth win in a row?