Plymouth supporters usually have ample reason to excuse themselves the 327-mile trip to Portman Road. Down the years their team have rarely performed well in Ipswich, two wins from 24 visits telling that story succinctly enough. It is an enervating journey, all the way from one perceived outpost to another, and the rewards simply do not tend to match the effort.
Never mind the history. On Saturday more than 2,100 will travel to Suffolk and this time belief will pulsate through all of them. Steven Schumacher’s side are five points clear at the top of League One, seven ahead of their third-placed hosts having played a game more, and are superbly set to correct a 13-year absence from the Championship. If they take the points, promotion will start to feel nailed on. The opportunity is worth all those hours on the road.
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It is by some distance the third tier’s biggest match of 2022-23 so far. While Plymouth are buoyant they are only one part of what appears, albeit with almost half a season left, to be a breakneck three-horse automatic promotion race. Plymouth, Sheffield Wednesday and Ipswich all average more than two points a game; all are exceptional sides for this level; and it is more than possible that one of them will have to slog through the playoffs despite accumulating more than 90 points. Even at this stage, every missed opportunity feels laden with significance. Whatever happens on Saturday will resonate through to May.
A sell-out crowd of 29,000 will see just how comfortable Plymouth are with being hunted. It will also find out how adaptable they are. The outstanding Schumacher has bolstered his squad with five signings already in this transfer window: he needed extra depth to sustain their push and now he has it, with the New Zealand forward Ben Waine appearing a smart capture and Callum Wright, who looked a gem in this division for Cheltenham last season, a clever acquisition from Blackpool. “I’ve never had this problem before,” Schumacher says of his diverse options. Selection dilemmas are, he explains, starting to give him sleepless nights.
There will, though, be a different reason to toss and turn. If anyone was a star for Argyle, who are emphatically a well-drilled unit, in their run to the summit it was Morgan Whittaker. The forward, on loan from Swansea, counted a long-range winner against Ipswich at Home Park in September among a series of sparkling contributions. But he was recalled by his parent club this month, to Plymouth’s dismay and to the player’s rage, seemingly with a view to being sold. A return in some form cannot be ruled out but for now Schumacher must plan without him.
Ipswich are among those with an interest in Whittaker, who would cost a seven-figure fee. They are unlikely to succeed, and doing so would be the most incendiary of moves in an already highly charged battle at the top, but it shows what Plymouth are up against. This week Ipswich were able to spend £1.5m on the Everton forward Nathan Broadhead, who was crucial to Sunderland’s promotion in 2021-22; they have also signed George Hirst until the end of the season from Leicester and can survey a squad that, in some departments, would look comfortable at the level above.
First it needs to get them out of this one. Kieran McKenna is, at 36, a shade younger than Schumacher and has enjoyed a superb first year in management since leaving his role as assistant at Manchester United. Backed by ambitious, communicative American owners he has galvanised a local community that had long despaired of its club, while creating the division’s most sophisticated, watchable side: Ipswich dominate every match they play; they shoot more times and score more goals than anyone else; their defence is troubled only a few times a game. Plymouth, in that reverse fixture four months ago, are arguably the only side to have matched them for spells on pure football terms.
But none of that necessarily extricates you from League One. McKenna’s team have a habit of conceding out of the blue, from the slightest pressure, and routinely look vulnerable under high balls. They should make more from all their possession and territory. Statistically they could be running away with the title but the broken-down numbers become insignificant when, for example, Wycombe’s Brandon Hanlan is barrelling through your defence to score the winner with the Chairboys’ only chance of the game.
It means Plymouth, supremely consistent and with the knack for finding late goals that tends to be a hallmark of promotion winners, deservedly occupy the box seat. It has also ensured Wednesday, who visit Portman Road in a month, vault into second. The style adopted by Darren Moore is not universally loved by Hillsborough regulars but they have not been beaten since 4 October, naturally by Plymouth, and look in menacing shape.
Wednesday can certainly match Ipswich for depth, along with individuals who have performed in the second tier; how they contend with the loss of their own influential loanee, the recalled Cardiff centre-back Mark McGuinness, will be among the factors that determine their future. A victory at Wycombe on Saturday would mean no result between their two rivals can do them harm.
It says everything for Plymouth, who returned from League Two three years ago and operate under a far lower budget than their competitors for ascent, that they are thriving among such company. The identity of Saturday’s captain hammers home the fact money offers no guarantees. The seasoned defender James Wilson will wear the armband in the absence of Joe Edwards, who is suspended, and will need no reminding that Ipswich released him in May 2021. “He’s got that experience of playing in a big stadium in front of a big crowd,” Schumacher says. “Hopefully he can settle everybody down around him and put in another good performance.” Doing so could send the travelling horde home happier than ever.
