Jordan Houghton has admitted he was frustrated at his lack of first team opportunities under former Plymouth Argyle head coach Wayne Rooney.

The 29-year-old midfielder was determined to be ready to take any opportunities that came his way, which included doing extra work after training to stay as sharp as he could despite his limited game time.

Houghton made just four starts and eight substitute appearances in the Championship with Rooney as the Pilgrims' boss but he has benefited from the recent change to Miron Muslic as head coach.

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Muslic used Houghton off the bench in his first three games in charge and has then started him in the last two, the 2-2 draw away to Sunderland and the 2-1 win against West Bromwich Albion at Home Park.

Houghton put in good performances in both and is now looking forward to playing his part in trying to get bottom-of-the-table Argyle out of the 'tricky situation' they are in.

It has been quite a turnaround for the midfielder, who said: "It has been probably the most difficult (season) of my career. I have never had one where I have not played so much unless I was injured, to be honest.

"Obviously, I can hold my hands up and say if I have not played well, or the team are doing really well, and that wasn't the case so it was really frustrating for me to not have opportunities.

"I respect that the old manager had his views on me. I respect that, I don't necessarily think it was right but then that's just my opinion. As a professional I have to have confidence in myself to play.

"I respect his decisions and that meant I didn't play much, and then I had to really knuckle down and be ready for opportunities, albeit that opportunity came with a new manager.

"The last couple of games I feel like I have done well, I have fitted in to what the manager wants but it has been difficult because I don't feel match fit and I need to get up to it quickly because there is a lot of vital games coming up.

"Really what I wanted to do all season is come into the team and just help give a bit of heart, a bit of determination, a bit of organisation and that's just what I have tried to do when I have come in."

Houghton went into this season off the back of a successful 2023/24 campaign for him when he made 32 starts and eight substitute appearances in the Championship.

He said: "Last season probably was my best in my career and then all of a sudden this season was my worst. I'm experienced enough now where I know football is like that.

"I think if I had this season when I was 18, 19 I might have completely lost the whole season and written it off, and then this opportunity that came I wouldn't have been ready for, whereas I feel like I was in a place where I understood the situation and I could make the right decisions.

"I had to make sure I did extra after training just to keep myself ready. The season flipped, the manager has gone, a new manager has come in and things change. Hopefully the last 16 games I can put a stake in for a good amount of minutes and help the team and we can get out this tricky situation."

There are reasons for optimism with Argyle picking up four points from their last two games and Houghton has been impressed with the way Muslic has set about stamping his own mark on the team.

Houghton said: "It has been really good. Different to anything that I have ever worked with before and it's quite refreshing actually. It has been nice to see it from a player's point of view and also I kind of look now a little bit more from a coach's point of view because I'm doing my badges.

"It has been really interesting to see how he puts on sessions and sees the game from a slightly different perspective to what I have had previous. I think you can see in the style of play it's a little bit different to how we have had it before, but that doesn't mean it's wrong or right.

"It's as long as you have a clear vision of how you see the game and the manager definitely does, he gets his messages across really well. I think you can see in just a short space of time how the team are really functioning and doing what he wants.

"That's only down to how he gets his messages across. He has a real clarity of what he wants and he shows that so I can only see it getting better and better with time because I already see that it has really improved us."

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