John Smith's PNE fans' panel verdict: A fully deserved win heading into the international break

Before Saturday’s game, I thought that – if they reproduced that kind of performance in front of their home fans – we could be in for quite an uncomfortable afternoon

However, this was a totally different Plymouth side now under new management, who had taken just one point from their last four home games.

That meant they were now among a cluster of clubs fighting to avoid the drop as the relentless Championship season approaches its business end.

Therefore, I viewed this game as one which should be there for our taking and was hoping for the essential win which would keep the play-off flame flickering for those remaining games after the international break.

With Plymouth being the former team of our manager, this game could have been billed as the Ryan Lowe derby.

After reading various posts on social media from some Plymouth fans, I had half-expected him to be hissed and booed like a pantomime villain by the home supporters on his approach to the dugout – instead he received a fair amount of warm applause from the majority of them.

On Armed Forces Day and, following a rousing rendition of God Save The King prior to kick off, we soon found ourselves in a bruising battle of our own against ‘The Green Army’ of Plymouth.

Already missing Alan Browne, Ben Whiteman and Emil Riis, it was not long before we added two more wounded casualties to our increasing injury list when Milutin Osmajic and then Brad Potts limped off.

Despite this, Lowe – similarly to Sir Francis Drake when he calmly played bowls on Plymouth Hoe after receiving news of the Spanish Armada in 1558 – stood on the touchline and calmly rearranged his depleted team.

There were many good performances from our team, in particular two magical ones from Mads Frokjaer and Liam Millar.

They were all over the place like a pair of newly-graduated wizards from the Hogwarts school of witchcraft and wizardry, trying out their tricks and spells on a mesmerised home defence.

Our magnificent 1,000-plus fans who made the long 600-mile trip to the Devon Riviera were certainly in party mood and gave their team some great vocal backing throughout the game.

Their spirits were not dampened by the rainy weather on our first visit to these parts since March 2010.

On another day, they could have been further rewarded by a winning margin of three or four goals had we taken some of the many chances we created in this fully deserved victory.