Plymouth’s manager was ecstatic as Argyle beat Hull City to set up the match. Norwich City triumphs
On Saturday, the Pilgrims go to MKM Stadium to take on a team in good form. City of Hull
Plymouth boss Steven Schumacher was thrilled to see his side show their true colours after bouncing back from their midweek mauling at Bristol City with a stunning demolition of Norwich to perfectly set up their trip to Hull City next weekend.
Argyle were humbled 4-1 at Ashton Gate on Tuesday but it was their turn to dish out the pain on Saturday as they thrashed the Canaries 6-2 at Home Park the day before City were 3-1 winners at Stoke City.
Morgan Whittaker led the way with a hat-trick while Dan Scarr, Finn Azaz and substitute Luke Cundle were also on the scoresheet for the rampant hosts, who led 4-0 at half-time.
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Adam Idah scored twice to give Norwich a 5-2 lead, but they were already on their way to a crushing defeat at that point.
“I thought we played really well, and I mentioned earlier in the week that our performance on Tuesday didn’t look like us,” remarked Schumacher. We haven’t had a performance like Tuesday in a while, and we thought we could make amends.
“It wasn’t a hard fix really. It was just about putting in a bit more effort and obviously getting people in the right positions and doing the basics right. When we get that right as a team we always look a threat and so I was really pleased with the reaction from the lads.
“We knew that the speed that we have got up top would cause their centre-backs problems. What pleased me the most was the understanding of what we were trying to do and then the execution of it was brilliant.”
Whittaker opened the scoring in the 15th minute and Scarr added a second 20 minutes later but it was in first-half stoppage time where Plymouth did the real damage as Azaz and Whittaker doubled their lead in a decisive spell.
Schumacher added: “We were thinking of going in at 2-0 at half-time and all of a sudden we were going in at 4-0. That was a bit of a mad few minutes but it gives you that cushion.
We spoke about having to concentrate because we know the quality they have got and if they got the first goal early then there would be 45 minutes for them to score three goals and they could easily do that.
“We said stick to the plan keep doing what we are doing and if we got another opportunity to counter-attack try and take it. When we got the fifth goal it settled everybody down.”
Whittaker was celebrating his first Championship hat-trick and Schumacher said of the 22-year-old: “I am buzzing for Morgan. He’s obviously a huge player for us. Before today he had one goal and four assists, now he’s got four goals so he’ll be pleased with his day’s work. I thought him and Finn Azaz were outstanding.”
