PLYMOUTH Argyle are eager to find a way of improving their sub-standard home form, after their heroics on their travels last weekend.

The Pilgrims picked up their second away victory in the current Coca-Cola Championship campaign when they beat high-riding Middlesbrough 1-0 at the Riverside Stadium last Saturday. They have managed to win only one match on their own turf this term, though.

Home Park was hardly a fortress last season, either. Argyle lost 11 Championship games in front of their own fans in 2008-09, which was a major factor in their final position in the table. They were 21st at the end of last term. They are one rung lower now, which would mean relegation if that is where they end up next May.

The Pilgrims are in action at Home Park today, when their opponents are Doncaster Rovers. Argyle's only other home game this month is against another South Yorkshire side, Barnsley, in three weeks' time.

Both Doncaster and Barnsley are in the bottom half of the table at present, but Plymouth have recent recollections of the two teams' prowess on the road. They inflicted Argyle's 10th and 11th home defeats last season.

Barnsley won 2-1 at Home Park in last term's final match, a fortnight after Doncaster had left Devon with an emphatic 3-0 victory to celebrate. "They came here last season and gave us a lesson in how to pass the ball," Argyle manager Paul Sturrock recalled.

Rovers, who bravely favour a passing game, overcame the Pilgrims twice last season. They gained a 1-0 success when the two teams met at the Keepmoat Stadium 11 months ago. "We couldn't get near them [at Home Park] and it was pretty similar up there," Sturrock added. "If you let them pass the ball, they will hurt you.

"We have to get in their faces and battle. If we can get at them, we can stop their style. Sometimes their flowing football and the way they pass the ball works a treat, but sometimes they can over-elaborate and cause themselves problems.

"You need to have 11 players who are comfortable playing that way, and I'm not always sure that teams of their type have that," the Scotsman said. Nevertheless, Sturrock is full of respect for the job that Doncaster manager Sean O'Driscoll has done since Rovers rose into the Championship in 2008.

"Their manager has done a fantastic job," the Argyle boss said. "He has solidified them as a Championship team, and what he has preached over the years he has put into practice. You can only commend him for that. He has lived by his rules, and it has worked for him."

Sturrock and Argyle head coach Paul Mariner devised a plan that worked for the Pilgrims last weekend, and now they want to keep on picking up points.

"The important thing is that we keep winning football games. We want the teams above us to be looking over the shoulders," the Argyle manager said. "Three points this weekend will go a long way, if one or two other results go our way, and that's what we want to happen."

Argyle's home form is likely to be crucial in their survival quest. "The bread and butter of any progress in any league is winning your home games, and we have not done that," Sturrock admitted. "Our form away from home over the past 18 months could be that of a top-six team, but our home form is probably the worst in the league. That's what we have to get to the bottom of."

One Argyle player who has emerged from Home Park's twilight zone to claim a place in Sturrock's starting XI is midfielder Yoann Folly. The Togo international did well at Middlesbrough, where he was given his first senior appearance of the season, and today he is all set to play Championship football at Home Park for the first time in almost a year.

"Yoann's job now is to stay in the team," the Pilgrims' boss said. "Getting selected was the easy bit, the hard bit is staying in the side."

Sturrock added: "He has done enough over the piece to merit selection, which I'm pleased about. There's a spring in his step at the moment, which I've not seen since he came to this football club.

"His confidence seeped away from him when he wasn't being selected. His head got down, and that made it worse instead of better. He also had a virus when he first came here, and these kind of things can cling to you for a long time. I'm just hoping that might have been the cause of his problems."

Folly played for Sturrock when the Scotsman was in charge of Southampton and Sheffield Wednesday. The Argyle boss said: "Over the last three weeks, he has looked like the Yoann I knew, and it's vitally important that he knows what he has achieved and how he achieved it. If he does that, it's like having a new player on our hands."

The participation of two Plymouth players – right-back David Gray and forward Rory Fallon – is in doubt because of injuries. Doncaster have taken Austrian international striker Roman Kienast on trial, whom Argyle took a look at in January this year.