At Harpers Park. Hazard, Butcher, Gibson, Scarr, Mumba, Houghton, Whittaker, Randell, Kesler-Hayden, Hardie, Miller. Subs Burton (gk), Baker (gk), Matthews, Pleguezuelo, Edwards, C Wright, Edworthy, Waine, Halls, Roberts, Issaka. And Finn Azaz is at the match.
A good run out in terrible weather. Forest Green will rightly think 5:1 was a bit unfair. They kept the ball on the deck and played some good stuff. Argyle were clearly the better side but the main difference was lethal finishing from Argyle. Hardie was a cool as a cucumber scoring the first and outrageously cheeky with a flick for the second while 3 or 4 yards beyond the near post and facing away from goal. FGR pulled one back and Schumacher will be disappointed that a loopy straight lob was not cut out before it fell to the scorer. Mumba scored after a good move and Callum Wright and Morgan Whittaker completed the scoring with fine shots from distance. Hazard looked very solid and made one good stop low to his right, although it’s fair to say FGR didn’t really put him under a lot of stress. We played 4:4:3 with Miller at left back and Mumba at left wing. That gave FGR some real problems. Houghton anchored midfield with Butcher and Randell a little more advanced. Houghton went off after about 35 minutes which is a bit worrying. None of the positional stuff matters very much as it was all very fluid with all sorts of people cropping up in all sorts of places. Mass substitutions from both sides made the last half an hour a bit scrappy but none of the Argyle youngsters looked out of place. Nothing negative at all but harder games will come.
PS I didn’t see Finn Azaz but then, it was 35 minutes before I realised we had a linesman on the side nearest the camera. Prior to that, he’d been hiding in the bushes.
I'm not sure If there was any truth in the sighting of Finn Azaz....would there not be more comment if that was the case. Goal Times. Hardie.....24mins & 29 mins.....................Stevens.....33 mins. Mumba.....38 mins. C Wright.....48 mins. Whittaker.....59 mins.
i noticed that not distant . i thought all in all it was decent. some nice goals. The score line flatted us as they were playing well just like torquay it was a bit opf a test not a walk over, but things will be tougher in two weeks time but we have belief .. a bonus was all the academy lads running out and showing some good stuff .. promising
very and word from a friend whos son was playing Saturday is that freddie has signed a pro contratc un sure on that
