Pilgrims boss Paul Sturrock was today expecting to walk into a lions den tomorrow as Part II of Bryan Gunn's 'mammoth week' prepared to unfold.
On the back of Tuesday night's thrilling 2-0 win over play-off chasing Cardiff City, the Canaries now have the chance to clamber out of the bottom three.
And with Messrs Gow, Mooney and McDonald all playing with exactly the kind of 'No fear!' feeling that the situation demands, so a little more hope is starting to course through the veins.
As Sturrock was swift to note this week; if City win and they will be snapping right at Plymouth's heels; should the Pilgrims pull another Wolves result out of the bag and then the gap will be back to seven points – Norwich will be back to the depths of despair and Plymouth will be breathing slightly easier.
That's the fine line that this weekend offers. As every weekend will, in fairness, between now and the end of the season.
“Every point is a prisoner at this minute in time,” admitted Sturrock, having briefly looked to have stabilised the ship with that 1-0 away win at a stuttering Wolves.
Now, however, one false move at Carrow Road and they would be right in the relegation mix again.
“We don't want that four-point gap to start shrinking any more – I would like to think we could put distance to them (Norwich) with a victory,” said Sturrock, as he set out his stall for this weekend's crunch clash.
“We were seven points ahead of them before Tuesday night, and it would be nice to be seven points ahead of them tomorrow night.”
The Pilgrims boss is certainly well aware of what awaits; that given fresh heart and new voice by the Mooney-McDonald show of Tuesday night – and all with that eye-catching Gow effort woven in-between – so the Norfolk natives will be baying for a repeat performance come three o'clock.
“They will have a 24,000 crowd baying for our blood. They had a very good performance against a quality side in Cardiff,” he told the Plymouth Herald today.
“But we went to Wolves two weeks ago, against a team who were desperately trying to get back on a run again and had a huge crowd behind them, and we came away with a result. So if we can go to Wolves and win, we can go to Norwich and win.”
Goals have proved hard to come by on their travels – they have just 11 to their name away from Home Park, the lowest total of any Championship side.
Again Sturrock was using that trip to Molineux as his benchmark.
“We went to Wolves and created several chances. So I think we can create against Norwich. And I'm very confident the players will be up for this game, and we will get the result we need.
“We have got to go there and be as solid a unit as possible when they have got the ball and try to be a bit more offensive when we have got the ball.”
Back in Norfolk and with Jason Shackell expected to win his fitness fight, the biggest decision for Gunn is whether or not to keep Master McDonald on the bench again – or unleash him from the start.
It would, in fairness, be rough justice on either Mooney or Gow after the pair led the Bluebirds such a merry dance on Tuesday night. With Lee Croft the other injury doubt, Gunn might also have to ponder whether or not to give David Carney a run from the start and potentially go into battle with two, left-siders on either flank.
But, for once, a Canary manager appears to be going into a crucial game with some nice choices to have – and some real wind starting to fill his sails.
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