The Long Old Pokes

WE will again be travelling just shy of 11,000 miles in the 2013-14 League 2 season, with six round-trips of 600 miles or more taking care of a third of that total.

The longest round-trip of the season – by a clear 100 miles – takes place on Saturday, October 19, when we travel to Victoria Park to play Hartlepool United (776 miles).

Pools, for who former Argyle captain Simon Walton now plays, were relegated from League 1 last season. Last time we visited them, in March 2011, we lost 2-0.

Victoria Park is, of course, the venue of the Pilgrims' record away league win – and joint-best victory anywhere – an 8-1 triumph in May 1994, when Richard Landon scored a hat-trick.

It is one of only two Argyle victories in ten games at Victoria Park. The other was a 3-1 win in May 2004, the game after we won the Nationwide Division Two title, in which current Pilgrim Luke McCormick kept goal.

The first of the 2013-14 long old pokes comes early, on Saturday, August, when we return to Morecambe (660).

Three weeks later we are at Scunthorpe United (640), while we visit York City (674) on Saturday, November 19; Fleetwood Town (651) on Saturday, January 4; and Accrington Stanley (626) on Saturday, March 22.

ARGYLE ON THE ROAD 2013-14
League 2 Mileage, Round-trips

Hartlepool United 775.8
York City 674.2
Morecambe 660.2
Fleetwood Town 650.6
Scunthorpe United 639.8
Accrington Stanley 626
Rochdale 599.4
Bury 592.8
Chesterfield 553.8
Southend United 538.4
Mansfield Town 534.2
Northampton Town 505.2
Dagenham & Redbridge 505
Burton Albion 474.4
Wycombe Wanderers 445.2
AFC Wimbledon 410.6
Oxford United 392.6
Portsmouth 341.8
Cheltenham Town 314.6
Newport County 277.4
Bristol Rovers 245.4
Exeter City 92.2   
Torquay United 69.2

Total: 10,918.8 miles
Average: 474.7 miles