Plymouth Argyle deserve to be in Championship declares Captain Fantastic Joe Edwards
Joe Edwards acknowledged that he will never forget that day. On the last day of the season, the 33-year-old gave what he believed to be the best performance of his Plymouth Argyle career, winning 1-0 at Home Park against Hull City to guarantee their place in the Championship.
With a fully devoted performance from beginning to end, the captain set the crucial example. In the 40th minute, he scored the goal with a strong header from the back post following a cross from Callum Wright. Ultimately, that was sufficient to allay the Pilgrims’ worries of relegation as they concluded in 21st place, one spot and one point above the drop zone.
Under head coach Kevin Nancekivell and director of football Neil Dewsnip, Argyle showed resilience to save themselves during a rollercoaster of a season that saw Ian Foster’s tenure last only 14 league games and Steven Schumacher leave to take over at Stoke City six days before Christmas.
Read more: Joe Edwards receives a 10-point rating from Argyle after Hull’s victory.
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They were going to be demoted to League One if they hadn’t defeated Hull, since 22nd-place Birmingham City defeated Norwich City 1-0 at home. However, they delivered when it mattered most.
Edwards said: “It means everything. We have worked so hard and for it to go down to the last game was not something we wanted but then to stay up like that, I don’t think you can beat it. It’s an amazing feeling, I’m so proud of all the boys and the staff, and I’m so happy for the fans.
“I think that was our best performance for a good long time, and we knew we had to. It was do or bust. The league is crazy and we knew probably everyone (the teams fighting against relegation) was going to win.
“It has been happening all season, when you need everyone to lose they win. We couldn’t rely on anyone else, we relied on ourselves and today we showed why we deserve to be in this division I think.”
