Plymouth Argyle excited to test themselves against Championship's best

Plymouth Argyle have played the top two teams in the Championship in their last couple of games, and still have the third and fourth-placed sides to come in the next fortnight but that holds no fears for them, according to midfielder Adam Forshaw.

The Pilgrims beat Sunderland 3-2 at Home Park to end their 100 per cent start to the season and then pushed West Bromwich Albion all the way before losing 1-0 at The Hawthorns on Saturday. Next up is a Sky-televised visit from Luton Town on Friday night before they play another team who were relegated from the Premier League last term when they take on third-placed Burnley at Turf Moor.

Their final match before the next international break will see Argyle host Blackburn Rovers, currently fourth in the table, on Saturday, October 5.

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Forshaw said after the game against West Brom: "We have got a lot of young players who get really excited by the bigger games. We are playing at a Premier League stadium and a Premier League club, realistically, in the last 15-20 years.

"So I think the lads are relishing the opportunity. We have went and beat Sunderland, who were the league leaders, and have took these to the wire and they are the league leaders now. We are not going to fear anybody.

"We stick to our guns, from Grimmy (goalkeeper Dan Grimshaw) all the way to the top, we try and pass the ball, and we try and work our way through the pitch. You can see what we are trying to do now."

Argyle lost to West Brom after the Championship's top scorer, Josh Maja, grabbed his sixth goal of the season shortly after the hour mark. It was a game, though, in which the visitors caused plenty of problems for the table-toppers, and they were applauded off the pitch by the 2,100-strong travelling Green Army.

Forshaw said: "It's always disappointing, we never want to lose games, but we have shown a real bravery. We took the ball, we played some really good stuff.

"Okay, they have had a couple of chances in the first half but so did we, we got into really good positions. There wasn't much in the game and we could have got something out of it.

"Apart from the first game of the season (the 4-0 defeat at Sheffield Wednesday), performances on the whole have been really good. The fans have acknowledged it at the end. We tried to perform for them and just couldn't get a goal. If we play like that we are going to have a decent season, I'm sure of it."

Forshaw was one of two changes made to Argyle's starting line-up against a Championship-battle-hardened West Brom side as Wayne Rooney went with him in place of Callum Wright in midfield, while Ryan Hardie was up front instead of Michael Obafemi.

"I didn't speak to the manager about it personally but obviously I have got a bit of experience," said Forshaw. "They had a three-man midfield and we did as well. We competed well and I enjoyed it."

Although Argyle were beaten by West Brom, there were encouraging further signs they are starting to adjust to the way that Rooney wants them to play. Forshaw said: "He wants us to be brave, he wants us to take the ball and we did. We had some nice little triangles in there at times, we got the ball wide to our dangerous players.

"There were plenty of positives, a lot of good performances. We will be looking to hopefully get some points next week (against Luton)."

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