Same Again Says Santos

Wanderers’ on-pitch leader Ricardo Almeida Santos wants another ‘premier’ performance to help the Whites extend their unbeaten away start.

Ian Evatt’s men face Plymouth Argyle this afternoon (Saturday) on the back of a mid-week Carabao Cup exit to Aston Villa.

Wanderers couldn’t hold onto the lead given them by Dion Charles’ first goal of the season as they sniffed a possible cup shock.

But Santos was encouraged by Wanderers’ display in pushing the Premier League side hard for two thirds of a cracking cup tie.

And he’s looking to keep the feel-good factor going after also re-affirming his own credentials after an impressive response to a rare slip last Saturday, when his error contributed to the opening goal in Sheffield United’s 2-0 win at the Whites.

“Mistakes happen in games but you’ve just got to move on from it,” added Santos, who was back to his commanding defensive best against the top-flight outfit.

“I couldn’t play against Aston Villa on Tuesday upset or thinking about the mistake because I wouldn’t be able to perform.

“I just forgot about it and got on with the game.

“I gave it a go. It was a good game to be back and I just want to keep playing games and building momentum.

“It was a good test for us and I think we did well for 60 minutes. We always knew it was going to be hard playing a Premier League side.

“But we gave it a go and we enjoyed it. We lost but everyone was still positive and can’t wait for Saturday.”

Plymouth have their own unbeaten start to protect after winning both of their League One games at Home Park so far this season.

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But Wanderers have made themselves tough to beat on their travels with their last away loss coming at the end of February.

The Whites toughed it out with 10 men at Port Vale to collect a point a fortnight ago – when Santos was controversially sent off – to add to their opening-day draw at Ipswich.

And Santos hopes a repeat of the performance against Villa will help Wanderers add to their away-day tally and reward the fans who make the 600-mile round trip.

“It will be a hard game. They will probably be up there this season. They have a good crowd but we will be looking to go there and bounce back from our last league game and try and get a win,” added the skipper.

“We want to start as we started on Tuesday, press from kick-off and not let them get their crowd behind them and get ours behind us and kick on.

“We can’t expect too many people to come because it’s so far away but there will be numbers as usual. There’s always a good crowd backing us for away games and it will be good to see.

“We want to keep the run going and he hard to beat away from home and try and get as many wins as possible.”

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