Plymarff Preview

I have a soft spot for Plimarff, having gone there for Uni and spent many a Saturday afternoon on the terrace. City head down to Home Park in a sort of half way house between not wanting to lose but definitely have much bigger fish to fry. On paper, City should win but..........

Presser

No SFL conference as yet, check back later. Here's Tom Cleverley's:

Past Meetings

City have played Plymouth 19 times since only playing once in the 38 years preceding. The most recent game was April 2025 where City were trying to get a play off spot. City had possession but got somewhat bullied at times and went down 3-1.

The first fixture of that season was on Boxing Day 2024 and was billed as Lampard v Rooney. City ended up as 4-0 winners thanks to goals from Tats, EMC and a brace from Eccles.

City don't have a great record at Home Park, only 2 wins since 1966, 7 losses and 2 draws. The last win was in December 2009 where a solitary close range header from Freddy Eastwood in the 72nd minute sealed the points. That was his 4th in 2 games after a hat-trick against Peterborough the week before.

The other win was way back in 1996. City visited Neil Warnock's Plymouth in the FA Cup and this was the starting line up, looks like we played 3-5-2.

Steve Ogrizovic
Ally Pickering – David Busst – Richard Shaw – Paul Williams – Marcus Hall
Kevin Richardson – John Salako – Paul Telfer
Dion Dublin – Noel Whelan

Things went wrong from the start when Bussty was sent off on 18 minutes for a professional foul and Plymouth scored from the resulting free kick. City reorganised at half time and a deflected cross from Ally Pickering and goals from Salako and Telfer saw us through. Great memories here:

City Team News

City are bound to make changes and rest people who played on Friday and who will play on Saturday against Hull. That leaves some guesswork here but lets go for the team on the left.

We have a strong enough team to match last seasons first team to be honest and this line up changes every player but 2. I think Grimes will play to keep things ticking as usual and with KKH injured, MVE will probably have to play. Both players are very fit and the extra days recovery may help.

Rushworth will probably start but I wouldn't be hugely surprised to see Bentley or Wilson start either so we'll see on that one.

Plymarff Team News

Leyton Orient midfielder Tyreeq Bakinson and Tottenham Hotspur forward Oliver Irow just joined on season-long loans and Cleverley has said they will feature.

For a view of what the opposition think of us have a look here:

https://argyle.life/first-team/matches/preview-plymouth-argyle-vs-coventry-08-26/

Player Links

KKH spent part of 23/24 on loan at Plymouth. Notable former alumni of both include FA Cup legends John Sillett and Dave Phillips and more recently Jamie "he calls it a batch" Paterson was at Plymouth last year which is really just an excuse to post this:

LAST Prediction

Hmmm. A long time of supporting City has taught me to be wary of away cup fixtures. However, looking at City's second team above I can see them being too strong for Plymouth. So far Argyle have beaten Exeter in the same cup, lost to Stockport at home and drawn with Wycombe last time out so they aren't in stellar form. Its one to be wary of though, cup atmosphere, under the lights and away from home.

LAST Prediction : 3-1 to City
Huwligan* Prediction: 3-0 to City
ChatGTP Prediction : 2-1 to City

* "Huwligan" is Huw, 7 1/2 year old son of Greg "Sweet of the Match" from LAST 1.0. More to come from him, believe me!

For an alternative match preview, check out EthanCF's: