Miron Muslic has insisted there is still everything to play for as bottom-of-the-table Plymouth Argyle take their fight for Championship survival into the away game against Watford tomorrow (12.30pm).
The Pilgrims suffered a damaging late 3-2 defeat to relegation rivals Derby County at Home Park on March 15 going into the fourth and final international break of the season. Now, they are about to resume their Championship campaign, seven points from safety with eight games to go, starting against 10th-placed Watford.
Muslic said about the international break: "I think it was good for us as staff, for the players because it was heavy, especially after the loss against Derby. We said they didn't win this game, we lost this game. That's why it felt difficult.
"We could use this time to escape a little bit, to get away, to refresh, to recharge so we could attack again. Everything is still on. I know the situation is very challenging but a lot of crazy things are happening over the last year almost in every competition the last five, six, seven, eight games.
"Some things are turning when you think it's almost impossible and we just have to make sure that we are still in the game until the end. So I was happy with this little break but I'm also very happy how we returned and bounced back in our training this week."
There has been one big blow for Argyle this week with confirmation that Ukraine international defender Maksym Talovierov has been ruled out for the rest of the season by a knee injury he suffered late in the defeat by Derby.
Muslic said: "It's a crucial phase for us, losing Maksym is going to be hard to replace but that's just the way it is. We are positive and with this positive mindset we move to Saturday."
Tom Cleverley's Watford have lost ground in the race for the Championship play-offs after picking up four points from their last four matches and lost 1-0 away to Oxford United last time out. They have won 11 of their 19 home league games this season and drawn another two of them.
Muslic said: "They are still a contender for the play-offs. I think they are playing a very good season. Very dominant in possession, very dominant with the ball, especially with (Imran) Louza, the captain, dictating the game from a deeper line.
"Offensively, they are physical, pacy, strong in a one-on-one, but I think we have possibilities how to turn their structure and organisation into our advantage. We worked on that the last couple of days and we have a chance on Saturday, 100 per cent."
Muslic added: "It's about performance we have to chase first and if we have the performance we can collect points.
"The games are less and less so at a certain point you need to start winning but first of all we need to perform. I think if we can get a right performance Saturday we have a chance to collect points, and we will try."
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