Plymouth

The roar that went up when the final whistle sounded last night said a lot. Every win is massive right now, and the way that the players ground out last night's result got the reward it deserved. There is now an excellent opportunity to get three more points on saturday - Sheffield Utd had another terrible result last night and look decidedly average, despite the amount of money that they have thrown around. When, oh when, will clubs learn not to give Bryan Robson a management job and a huge transfer kitty? He was a great player, but as a manager he's a fool.

There were so many impressive performances in yellow shirts last night, but Doherty and Evans stood out in particular. What a finish by young Ched - two minutes into his full debut as a professional and he finds himself clean through. He could have been forgiven if he had fluffed it or hit it straight at the keeper, but he took it brilliantly. He should be let off the one that he blazed over the bar later in the half - he showed last night that he is a genuinely hot prospect for us in the short term and for Sven and Manchester City in the long term. Hopefully Sven will see sense and allow us to extend his loan - it would be of benefit to all concerned. As regards Doherty, he showed again what a good player he can be last night. What concerns me is that when Taylor returns to Birmingham (as looks almost certain now, alas) we will, in all probability, have Doherty and Shackell in the centre again. I cannot fathom out why, but they have never played well together. They have each played superbly when paired with either Dion or Taylor, but put them together and they leak goals. It's going to be another challenge for Roeder, and I hope he is able to bring out the best in both of them. There are encouraging signs that he may do so, given the improvement in performance levels throughout the team over recent games - if he manages it, it will be another gold star on his report.

Roeder showed again last night how unafraid he is to make difficult decisions - this time, it was to "rest" Shackell. It was a brave decision by Peter Grant to give him the captaincy in the summer (though there were not many outstanding candidates) but it has not worked out for him. I was surprised that Fotheringham was given the armband, but the more I think about it, the more it seems that, with the exception of the mighty Dion, he seems the best candidate to take over the captaincy duties. We have begun to see the best of him and his return from injury has added some bite and intelligence to the midfield. He clearly revelled in the responsibility last night - Roeder has said that he will think long and hard before deciding who will be his captain at the weekend, but after last night I can see no argument for taking it away from Fozzy.

Finally, I suspect that I am not the only one who was nervous when Hucks was preparing to take that penalty last night. Why? Because we knew exactly where he was going to put it. Look back over the other penalties that he has taken during his time here and you will see that he invariably goes for the same side of the goal and almost exactly the same spot! Thankfully, the Plymouth keeper had clearly not done his homework.