Paterson: 'Pilgrims heading in right direction'

ARGYLE WERE GOOD VALUE FOR THEIR TROPHY WIN AT ORIENT

- By CHRIS ERRINGTON

JAMIE Paterson thought Plymouth Argyle took 'a step forward' with the positive way they played in their 1-0 Vertu Trophy victory away to Leyton Orient.

Paterson felt the Pilgrims got a deserved reward for pressing their opponents when Lorent Tolaj scored deep into added time to secure their passage into the last 16 of the competition.

Now the 33-year-old attacker is hoping they can take confidence from that into their League One game against Bradford City at Home Park on Saturday, with Argyle currently in a lowly 23rd position while the Bantams are in third place.

Paterson said about the late Orient win: "There were two or three chances where I couldn't believe it didn’t go in and on the pitch I was thinking 'Please let us get this over the line' because we deserved it.

"I don’t think we have come away from home and snatched and grabbed a win. We thoroughly deserved it and at the end we were the team pressing, we weren’t worried about losing the game, we were going for it.

"I think that’s the type of players we have got, that’s the type of club we are, and we just need to keep that forward momentum going into Saturday and just get after them.”

Argyle are returning to Home Park on Saturday after being booed off the pitch by angry and frustrated fans following a dismal 3-0 defeat by Northampton Town last weekend, a result which left them in 23rd position in League One.

Paterson said: "It's just difficult all round, where we are in the table is not good enough, we all know that. Everyone knows that. The fans know that, but that’s where we are.

"The only way we can get out of that is by sticking together. It sounds cliche, it's just a fact really.

That’s where we are and we need to accept it, I think we have, and now it's about little baby steps.

“We were decent in the first half against Northampton and then we conceded and you could see the confidence went out of the team again.