IN THE SPOTLIGHT
CARDIFF 1
Ledley 30
ARGYLE 0
Lee Martin was the obvious first choice for today's Player Watch against Cardiff City. This was potentially the last game of his loan spell from Manchester United and there was an added bonus - his direct opponent was former Pilgrim Tony Capaldi.
It was a miserable start for Argyle's flying winger as he slumped on the floor with an unexplained injury. No Cardiff player was near him and we could only hope it was not a recurrence of the hamstring problem that kept him out for most of December.
After limping around for five minutes, Martin's start to 2008 got even worse when he picked up his fifth booking of the season for chopping down Capaldi, earning him a suspension, whether he stays Green or not.
It got better for the exciting youngster at the end of his spell in the spotlight. A poor headed clearance by Glenn Loovens fell to Lee and he took one quick touch before slamming a rasping 25-yard drive inches past Kasper Schmeichel's post.
We moved our attention to Cardiff-born striker Jermaine Easter, who, with yesterday's departure of Barry Hayles to Leicester, will be looking to develop his blossoming strike-partnership with Sylvan Ebanks-Blake.
There was nothing, however, Jermaine could do about Cardiff's opener. A fantastic flick by Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink sent Joe Ledley clear. He released Capaldi for a shot that Romain Larrieu parried straight back into the path of Ledley for an easy finish.
Jermaine's lay-off a minute later almost got the Pilgrims straight back in the game. David Norris fired in a drive that took a huge deflection and looked destined for the net, but it dribbled agonisingly wide with Schmeichel completely helpless.
Unlike during Saturday's draw with Stoke, it wasn't quite happening for Jermaine and Sylv, as was perfectly highlighted when Jermaine chested a ball to Sylv, but slipped before he could collect the return pass that would have given him a shooting chance.
HALF TIME
Dutch defender Marcel Seip was our man for the start of the second half and he was part of a back-four that come under some heavy pressure after the interval.
Marcel had a new partner at the heart of the Argyle defence on 54 minutes when Paul Sturrock replaced Krisztian Timár, who was clearly carrying a knock, with Mathias Kouo-Doumbe.
The removal of Hasselbaink for Steven Maclean on the hour-mark gave Marcel a very different defensive proposition. Hasselbaink's immense strength was replaced by the vastly superior mobility of Maclean.
Marcel and Mat tuned into each other's frequency immediately and caught Cardiff offside twice in a row by playing the higher defensive line required for a team chasing the match.
A quiet and unspectacular contribution from Marcel ended without much incident, but, as always, the dependable Dutchman lived up to his new nickname.
Luggy did Player Watch a favour for the final 20 minutes of this encounter by introducing new loan signing from Everton Lukas Jutkiewicz for his Argyle debut.
The imposing youngster replaced Jimmy Abdou with Luggy switching to a 4-3-3 formation, and the stage was set for Lukas to make a name for himself. With Lord Barrington of Hayles now departed, Lord Lukas was my first tentative suggestion - we could only hope he didn't go missing.
Far from going missing, Lukas left three Cardiff players in a heap the first time the ball went near him. The second time, he nodded over under severe pressure from the same three slightly peeved Bluebirds.
There is no doubt Lukas is a serious physical presence, but this was not be his, or Argyle's, day. Credit where it is due and Cardiff were the better side on the day, although this was not the Argyle we have got used to watching.
