Pilgrims' superb victory was a clear statement of intent

“WE are here to stay.” That was the statement Plymouth Argyle sent out to the rest of the Championship by beating Norwich City 6-2 at Home Park, according to hat-trick hero Morgan Whittaker.

- CHRIS ERRINGTON

The 2022/23 League One champions picked up four points from their opening two games this season but then lost four of the next five, including a heavy 4-1 defeat at Bristol City last Tuesday. Argyle came up with a superb response to that, though, by taking a 4-0 lead by half-time against a stunned Norwich on Saturday, and Whittaker then further extended their lead when he completed his hat-trick in the 59th minute.

The rout of Norwich leaves Argyle 12th in the Championship table, and with three wins out of four at home there are encouraging signs visiting teams will not find it easy at all when they come to the Theatre of Greens.

Whittaker said: “I think if you look at the first eight games we are getting the chances. It’s not like we aren’t creating chances, so I think a game like this was going to happen for us, and against a top team like Norwich it’s such a good statement to the other teams that we are here to stay.”

The convincing victory came after Argyle had suffered back-to-back away defeats to Ryan Lowe’s Preston North End (2-1) and Bristol City, where they conceded two goals in the first eight minutes.

Whittaker said: “In the Championship you can’t get disheartened because one win can be massive. It doesn’t matter who you are playing against because anyone in the Championship can beat anyone so I think we just play our game, play the way we do, and we will be fine.”