Yesterday we had a reserve game vs Plymouth at our training ground. Rory Fallon managed to play the whole 90 minutes for the first time in 15 months. DC on Fallon after this game: "It was a good run out for Rory considering the length of time he has been out. I've been looking for an old fashioned number nine for some time and he will definitely offer us a different dimension in the last 15 or 20 minutes of a game. He's got the height and aerial ability to make something of the ball if we need to get it into the penalty area quickly and that type of player is not easy to find these days. I go to a lot of under 21 games and I don't see a lot of old fashioned number nines coming through the system. There is a lot of 4-4-1-1 or 4-2-3-1 with strikers asked to play up front and stretch the play rather than act as the big presence that can be useful up top at times. He is on non-contract terms on a very small wage so it was a no-brainer for me to bring someone of his experience in." Marcus Stewart added: "We haven't got anyone like him in our first-team. He is a senior player who knows what he is good at and doesn't complicate the game. He's scored loads of goals at Championship level and below and has also played in a World Cup and has a number of caps for New Zealand. That sort of experience will be invaluable to us and I can only see him going onto make a positive contribution for us for however long he is at the football club." On the game itself, the team for the game was: Preston Greenslade, Kilgour, McChrystal, Fry (Corp, 70) Broom, Malpas, Gosling, Montano Fallon, Mehew (Davies, 60) Unused subs: Green, Confrey, Phillips. DC only watched on from the sidelines leaving Marcus Stewart in charge of the team. Cristiano Montano scored our only goal to give us the lead, however the score finished 1-1. MS said regarding the game: "Considering the amount of one-on-ones we had we should have won the game 10-1. There were a lot of positives to take from the game but our finishing wasn't one of them. I have no complaints about the effort but we weren't clinical enough in front of goal and that makes it feel like a defeat." Match report: Montano, meanwhile, opened the scoring with a clinically-placed finish past goalkeeper James Bittner after picking the ball up on the halfway line and holding off two attempts to dispossess him before pulling the trigger on 14 minutes. Olly Mehew went close to doubling the advantage a couple of minutes later when rising highest at the far post only to head Montano's pin-point delivery from the left-hand side wide of the post. Ryan Broom then slid the ball the wrong side of the upright when breaking through on goal with only Bittner to beat towards the end of an opening period that Rovers had dominated. Plymouth were better after the break and Kieran Preston, who had been a virtual bystander during the first-half, had to make three good saves to deny Alex Fletcher, Jordan Foster and Louis Rooney. At the other end, Bittner had to make a good stop at the feet of Montano to prevent Plymouth going further behind before they levelled matters on 70 minutes when defender Jordan Bentley pounced on a loose ball to score from close-range following a corner. Gosling and substitute Blake Davies both hit the woodwork before the game ended honours even soon after Bittner made another good save to deny Montano what would have been a winning goal. .
