Mariner Making Excuses

Plymouth Argyle manager Paul Mariner is already making excuses for his side ahead of their visit to Barnsley on Saturday.

Barnsley will finally get their chance to play Plymouth Argyle as they visit Oakwell this Saturday but Paul Mariner has been bemoaning his lack of choice for team selection due to injury`s to his squad.

Defender David McNamee and midfielder Karl Duguid are both big doubts ahead of the clash and Mariner has admitted that his squad is thin on the ground. He told Plymouth`s official website: “When you have the type of squad that we have, you can`t lose your first line people.”

Mariner shouldn`t worry, he has former Barnsley favourite (hmm) and World Cup Qualifiers hero Rory Fallon at his beck and call. Big Rory or “Bambi” to Barnsley fans plundered 11 goals for the Reds in 38 starts.

The Reds, who stayed up at Plymouth on the final day of the season last year are yet to face the Pilgrims this term as their game at Home Park has been rescheduled no less than 3 times. 58 minutes of the game were played in November but referee Gavin Ward controversially abandoned the game in the second half due to a waterlogged pitch.

It was extremely harsh on the Reds, who were 4-1 to the good at the time. Home Park had better shape up if England win the bid to host the World Cup when they can’t even manage to stage a Championship game at three attempts.

If the odds (8/11) are to be believed, Barnsley will go half way to avenging this season`s misfortune at Oakwell with a victory on Saturday.