Meet Town's opposition: Pilgrims make little progress of late, hot-shot Luke and the Tom Daley connection

PILGRIMS NOT PROGRESSING

Plymouth Argyle are this weekend's visitors to Portman Road, hoping to put a stop to a disappointing run of form that has seen them lose four of their last five League One games.

The most recent defeat was at home to relegation-threatened Wigan on Tuesday night. Before that, they had lost to Doncaster (1-2) and Northampton (0-2).

MIKE BACON: No excuses from the Blues

They sit second bottom of the League One form guide - taken from the last six games - with only Rochdale below them.

In the league table itself, Argyle are in 15th position, six points behind, and eight places below Town.

Plymouth hot-shot Luke Jephcott (Image: PA Wire/PA Images)

HOT SHOT LUKE

Despite Plymouth's mid-table position, they possess one of the hottest strikers in the League.

Luke Jephcott has netted 16 League One goals so far this season, the Welsh U-21 striker having burst onto the scene this campaign after a spell on loan at non-league Truro City the season before.

There has been much speculation about his future with a few Championship clubs having supposedly been keeping tabs on him - even watching him.

INJURY blow for on-loan Ipswich ace

Argyle boss Ryan Lowe has described Jephcott as ‘a level-headed kid’ and does not want him to become distracted by all the transfer talk.

And he wasn't impressed with the rumours. "I’m not saying there isn’t interest in Luke Jephcott but I think the clever clubs and people who do it properly go about their business right," Lowe said recently.

“I know probably two or three clubs who would be definitely interested in him, but they don’t have to go and say ‘We are watching this, we are watching that’.

Plymouth Argyle manager Ryan Lowe (Image: PA Wire/PA Images)

“It’s just lazy journalism if you ask me. Someone is putting his name out there and rightly so, he is probably one of the hottest young prospects in the country at the moment."

However, Jephcott hasn't scored in his last eight games.

HOME AND AWAY

If you are a player for Plymouth, you have to be prepared for long away days.

While clubs like Ipswich and Hull only have to visit Devon, likely once a season, the Pilgrims' players have many arduous trips.

This weekend's trip to Ipswich is a 600-mile round one, as is their trip to Lincoln (600 miles). But it gets further for the Pilgrims to Fleetwood (640-mile round trip), Blackpool (640) and Hull (almost 700).

WE CAN MAKE play-offs say Town fans

Maybe that could explain why their home form is so much better than their away travels.

Plymouth have the fifth-best home record in League One - better than Town's. But away from home only Bristol Rovers, Northampton and Swindon have worse records on their travels.

Ipswich Town's Kayden Jackson (right) celebrates scoring his side's winning goal of the game during the Sky Bet League One match at Home Park, Plymouth back in December (Image: PA Wire/PA Images)

THE LAST TIME

Ipswich took advantage of Danny Mayor's red card to score twice in a minute and win at Plymouth, 2-1, the last time the two sides met in December.

After Mayor was sent off for a second bookable offence in the 70th minute for a trip on Armando Dobra, Jon Nolan fired home back across goal after a cutback from Stephen Ward three minutes later.

Plymouth Argyle's Danny Mayor (left) is sent off by referee Ollie Yates during the Sky Bet League One match at Home Park, Plymouth, between the home team and Ipswich, in December. (Image: PA Wire/PA Images)

And seconds later Ward was also provider for Kayden Jackson, who chested the ball down before smashing in Town's second goal.

Argyle had opened the scoring when Jephcott scored on 14 minutes. At the time, Town went up to third in the table.

Plymouth-born, Tom Daley (Image: PA Archive/PA Images)

DID YOU KNOW?

Plymouth is a very nautical city.

Sir Francis Drake, the first person to circumnavigate the world was mayor of Plymouth in the 16th century, while William Bligh, born in Plymouth, was in command of HMS Bounty in 1789 when the infamous mutiny occurred. And just to keep with the watery theme, Tom Daley, the Olympic diver, was also born in the city.