The latest in a series written by the Packet's newest recruit and Plymouth Argyle fanatic - Packet Pilgrim.

“We are nowhere near turning another corner.” “I left the ground disappointed but proud.”

Only in the bizarre world of football fandom do you see such polarised views of the same event, except maybe in politics. In fact I’d imagine that’s probably what most cabinet ministers feel like after every meeting with Theresa May at the moment. Swap ‘ground’ for ’10 Downing Street’ and you’re good to go (but maybe not the 'proud' bit).

But the phenomenon in best expressed in the football world, with those with words of optimism dismissed as ‘rose-tinted’ while those with a negative viewpoint are deemed ‘doom-mongers’.

Argyle’s latest EFL League One game at home to Sunderland on Saturday was no different.

“There’s no way we are going down this season.” “We lost 2-0, end of!”

Yes, the main takeaway will be that we lost 2-0 but that is not the full story.

I followed the majority of this week’s encounter from a wet and windy Underlane, with Wendron United entertaining Bude Town in the SWPL Division 1 West.

The early kick-off of 2.15pm due to the absence of floodlights meant that the game had reached half-time by the time Argyle had kicked off, and it seemed like a slow but steady opening 15 judging by the Argyle twitter updates.

I was expecting a Sunderland goal notification from my Flashscores app at any moment, but the only goals that had gone in by the time I left Underlane were for Dron themselves who went on to beat Bude 3-1. In fact we were apparently the ones more likely to break the Home Park deadlock.

It was not until I had got into my car that the Mackems finally found their way through – in the 53rd minute of the game to be precise – before a late penalty killed of any hopes of the boys in green rescuing a point.

Former Celtic, Spartak Moscow and Everton man Aiden McGeady scored both of Sunderland’s goals. He also has 92 caps for the Republic of Ireland, three Scottish Premier League titles, 55 Champions League/Europa League appearances to his name and is probably one of the players who is earning more or less what the whole of Argyle squad get combined.

“Progress is 100% being made.” “Can’t blame the ref for not finding the back of the net.”

While the majority of Pilgrims – I would say about 75% at a guess – accepted defeat as ‘one of those ones’ and took heart in the team’s valiant effort, some were not quite so forgiving and instead used the defeat as another opportunity to wail about how we are still certain for relegation.

I braced myself before browsing the Twitter comments at full-time, and sure enough it was there, someone had written “Hello league 2” in response. I wasn't angry, just disappointed.

Are we still in relegation? Yes. Might we still get relegated (I doubt it but it is of course a possibility)? Yes. Did this result have any significance whatsoever on whether that will be the case? Absolutely not.

Yes a defeat is a defeat but this is Sunderland, a Premier League club just 16 months ago with a playing budget that Argyle would only ever dream of even having a quarter of.

This match was not a gauge of where we are at all. If we were top of the league then we would still have been happy with a draw from this match, let alone 22nd. A draw would have been brilliant and a win would have been amazing, anything was a bonus.

Defeat is not the end of the world. We take it and move on.