This week's Niche Cache.
Waineo:
“It's never easy. Everyone wants to play but when Ryan [Hardie] is scoring goals and playing well you just have to take your hat off and show the respect he deserves for doing so well, and then in the background just being patient and waiting for a chance to come along. It's as simple as that. I'm happy for Ryan because he's doing really well and at the moment he has been deserving to play. I'm obviously happy I got a chance to show what I can do and we will just move on from there.”
Games have been tough to come by but he did get a rare Championship start on the weekend as Plymouth faced off against Leeds United. The team that knocked them out of the FA Cup (in extra time of a replay), also a team that Waine scored in the reverse league fixture back in November. The Pilgrims have been operating with only one central striker under new manager Ian Foster and that’s been Ryan Hardie, who has scored 5 times in his last 10 matches. But Hardie was given a rest against Leeds, meaning Waine made his 10th start of the season across all comps but his first since December.
Only thing there is that Leeds are way better than Plymouth. They took the lead after ten minutes through Wilfred Gnonto, left wide open for a looping punt over the top. Leeds had already shown an inclination to control possession so nothing changed after they scored. Waine had a typical game for himself in which he worked hard, made lots of sprints, but didn’t get enough touches of the ball. However he did have one huge moment to potentially equalise... a flowing counter attack after he’d won the ball on halfway himself, which ended in a low cross that narrowly evaded BW in the centre of the goal. He claimed afterwards that he felt it flick his laces.
Not to be. Waine was then subbed on the hour and Leeds went on to score a second via Georginio Rutter. The 2-0 result sends Leeds up to second and keeps Plymouth happily enough in the lower-mid table realms. Their main target is just to stay in the division after getting promoted last term and they’re well on course for that as things sit.