Following a
dramatic Tuesday evening fixture away to Cheltenham Town, Plymouth Argyle will
return to Home Park where they will welcome John Ward’s Bristol Rovers.
The Johnstone
Paint Trophy took centre stage on Tuesday and Wednesday night when League One
and League Two clubs fort it out in the first round competition. This is the only competition in which League
One and Two clubs compete in. There are
two sections, the Northern section and the Southern section. The winners of the Northern section and the
Southern section will go head to head at Wembley to win the Johnstone Paint trophy. In this week’s first round draw Plymouth
Argyle travelled back to Cheltenham for the second time this season and Bristol
Rovers were drawn against rivals Bristol City at Ashton Gate. On Tuesday evening Cheltenham Town welcomed
Argyle to The Abbey Business Stadium. As
of full time the result was drawn 3-3, in this competition it goes straight to
penalties if there isn’t a winner from the 90minutes. Considering the Devon club hadn’t won a
penalty shot-out since 1998 there was not much hope, but Argyle surprised the
fans once again when Marvin Morgan slot home the winner, winning 5-4 on the
night. The attention was then turned to
the Bristol Derby on Wednesday night, which was aired live on SkySports Two,
the first for over 6 years, had so much anticipation on the game. The game which was overturned for crowd problems
ended 2-1 to Bristol City, two sublime finishes from Jay Emmanuel-Thomas and
former Argyle player Joe Bryan won the fixture.
In recent
seasons this fixture has been a high scoring derby in midweek. As this will be the first fixture that
Bristol Rovers have played Argyle on a Saturday for many years the Home Park
faithful will be eager to cheer the players onto three points and the Rovers
fans will be doing the same thing. The last meeting between the two sides was when
Argyle lost 2-1 at The Memorial Ground on New Year’s Day 2013, this was the day
that former player and manager Carl Fletcher was relieved of his duty at
Plymouth Argyle. Now managed by John Ward
Bristol Rovers went into the half time break on New Year’s Day winning 2-0 with
goals from Joe Anyinsah and Matt Lund. Conor Hourihane pulled a goal back after the
half time break but it wasn’t enough for Argyle to get anything from the game
as the Pilgrims lost 2-1.
Midfielder
Hamza Bencherif and Wolverhampton loanee Jamie Reckord will be determined to
make their home debuts on Saturday when Argyle play host to Bristol Rovers at
Home Park. The pair were signed on
deadline day on short term details until January 1st 2014 respectfully.
One player who John Sheridan won’t be able to call upon is central defender
Curtis Nelson. He was sent off in
Tuesday evenings Johnstone Paint Trophy first round victory against Cheltenham Town,
Nelson will serve a one match ban.
Bristol Rovers Matt Harold will make his long awaited return to the
squad after suffering a cruciate knee ligament injury last September; he did
however make the bench but was never required for action on Wednesday against Bristol Rovers.
Available: - Jake Cole, Luke McCormick, Guy Branston, Maxime Blanchard, Jamie Richards, Neal Trotman, Durrell Berry, Andre Blackman, Jamie Reckord, Ben Purrington, Andres Gurrieri, Conor Hourihane, Romuald Boco, Dominic Blizzard, Hamza Bencherif, Luke Young, Ryan Lane, Lewis Alessandra, Reuben Reid, Marvin Morgan, Tyler Harvey, Isaac Vassell.
Doubtful:- Paul Wotton (broken rib)
Unavailable: - Matt LeCointe (knee injury), Nick
Chadwick (knee injury), Curtis Nelson (suspended)
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