Colchester 0 Argyle 0: Match report

ARGYLE’S first goal-less draw since midway through their previous campaign – Derek Adams does not really do draws, and 0-0s are not in his lexicon – makes the Pilgrims’ chances of adding the Sky Bet League Two title to their promotion a longer shot than it was.

However, when the side with the second-best home record in the division comes up against the team with the best away record, the scoreline is not really an eyebrow-raiser. A good game of few outstanding chances nevertheless produced a result that did neither side any real favours.

Adams had been obliged to make one change to the line-up that had won promotion in the grand manner with Easter Monday's 6-1 home victory over Newport County.

On-loan Cardiff City winger Matty Kennedy had been struck down with food poisoning since scoring two excellent goals against the Exiles, a fate that had also befallen his fellow Scot Gary Miller. Connor Smith came into the midfield, with Graham Carey providing the width that had gone along with Kennedy’s illness.

Having not previously missed a league match since February 2015 before the Newport match, centre-back Sonny Bradley was absent for the second game in succession after having suffered a dead leg at Portsmouth on Good Friday.

Argyle, maybe understandably and certainly forgivably, took a little while to find their legs, during which time a Chris Porter header provided the good ship Pilgrim with the mildest of shots across its bows.

They settled quickly, though, and soon showed a liking for the Weston Homes Community Stadium’s slick surface by moving the ball quickly with a confidence borne of achievement.

Porter, though, remained a live threat and obliged Luke McCormick to come smartly from his goal-line, following a break in play after Oscar Threlkeld had been flattened by George Elokbi, the former Wolves defender whose accidental collision with Argyle’s Krisztian Timar on the final day of the 2007-08 season had left the Pilgrims’ Hungarian centre-back requiring major surgery.

Argyle’s crisp passing and mercurial movement lacked only a measure of incisiveness in the opening quarter but persistence paid when Carey and Jake Jervis combined to send Antoni Sarcevic through. The angle was acute, though, and his shot went wide.

Elokobi was put on a final warning by referee Darren Handley when he clattered into the back of Jervis, before Porter spurned his best chance, fluffing a header five yards out after being teed up by Brennan Dickenson.

Argyle inched closer themselves and forced U’s goalkeeper Sam Walker into a genuine save as the game entered first-half injury-time, when Ryan Taylor met a right-wing corner for a powerful header that was stopped on the goal-line.

Read the full match report here.