Wanderers return to the Toughsheet Community Stadium this weekend for the first home game of the 2025/26 season – and the Head Coach says his side are determined to make it count.
After opening the campaign with a challenging away fixture at Stockport County, the boss is relishing the chance to get back on home soil in front of the Wanderers supporters.
"I’m looking forward to it,” he said. “It should be an exciting game. We’ve got a big crowd coming in and we’re up against another tough opponent who will have aspirations again this year to get promotion.
"It’ll be a hard game and we want to make sure we do enough to come out of it with the result and the points we want.
“We felt we did a lot of things well last week against another tough opponent, but just didn’t quite get the outcome we wanted.”
Despite defeat on the opening day, Schumacher has pinpointed several positives to take from that performance to take into facing Plymouth on Saturday.
“We highlighted that we did a lot of good things, but we were also a bit scruffy at the start of the second half,” he explained.
“We won the ball back three times in dangerous areas in the first 15 minutes after the break, but gave it straight back and conceded fouls.
“When you’re 1-0 down, that just takes all the momentum out of the game. We’ve got to use our brains more, be a bit streetwise, keep the ball, and avoid giving away cheap fouls in those moments.
“We had 15 shots, hit the woodwork a couple of times, and created some big chances,” he added.
“If we weren’t creating chances, I’d be more concerned. But we have to stick to the plan – keep getting players into dangerous areas, commit bodies forward, and make the most of the big moments when they come.
“On the other side, we’ve got to be tighter from all situations. Their first goal last week came from us taking a quick goal kick into the wrong area with two minutes to go. That’s an error we can cut out.”
This weekend’s visitors, Plymouth Argyle, are a club our Head Coach knows well – and he’s expecting another high-level test.
They’ve come down from the Championship, recruited a lot of players, and have a new manager with a different style of play,” he said.
“Like a lot of teams, they’ll fancy their chances of going straight back up. They’ve got some talented players I know well, so we’ll need to be ready, prepared, and clear on where we can hurt them.”
With the first home crowd of the season behind them, the boss wants Wanderers to turn the Toughsheet into a place opponents fear to visit.
“Home form is massive if you want to be successful,” he said.
“If we can build an atmosphere where teams know they’re in for a tough game, and the fans see the players giving 100%, they can help us get over the line in those tough moments – just like last season.
“If we win the majority of our home games, we give ourselves a great chance of promotion. We want to be aggressive, take the game to teams, and find a way to win.”
On the team news front, there will be no changes to the squad from last weekend, although several players are making progress in their recoveries.
“Sam Dalby won’t be involved this weekend,” confirmed the Head Coach. “He’s nearly up to full speed and should join in some training next week before building up with some games.
“The longer-term injuries – Will Forrester and Richard Taylor – aren’t too far away, while Kyle Dempsey and Victor Adeboyejo are also progressing well but for now, it’s the same squad as last week.”