Academy Preview | Cambridge (H)

Argyle Under-18s began their defence of Merit League One with a goalless draw against Stevenage last weekend, and manager Darren Way thinks that close-run affairs could be a regular occurrence in the competition this season.

“I think the level, the competition of the Merit League, is going to be tough,” he said.

“The majority of the games in the Merit League have been very tight. Both teams are organised. Both teams do their homework on each other. It's a game we're looking forward to.

“There's some good teams, some strong teams. We’ve come up against one or two different formations, so I think it'll be a real good experience for our players.”

The Young Pilgrims’ opposition this Saturday, at 11am at Millennium Fields in Plymouth, is Cambridge United, who only just squeezed into a qualifying position in their Youth Alliance league. However, the U’s have had a superb FA Youth Cup campaign, losing 3-2 to Arsenal at the quarter-final stage, with the Gunners scoring an injury-time winner.

“I was with the Arsenal staff this week who played against them, and they've told me they've got some good players,” Way said. “They caused us real problems last year when we played them and won 1-0, but we're ready, as a team, to take whatever comes ahead of us.”

The schedule of games for Way’s players, as the season begins to wind up, is a tough one, with the standard of opposition of a high standard too.

Darren has consistently talked of how important experiences are to his prospects, educating them on things they can expect if and when they are fortunate enough to turn professional.

“There's always a trade-off between winning and development,” he said. “We try to get the balance right. We don't want to travel all that way and not be prepared. All of our teams are set up to be competitive.

“One thing that the Merit League has taught us, we come up against physically stronger players playing different shapes, different formations. They're not familiar faces.

“For that experience alone, I think it's helped in terms of our development where we want our players to be.

“Our team mood is very good, which is important. Every player has looked strong in training. Some of the first-years have had a midweek game, which was good for their development, to play Saturday-Tuesday-Saturday. We're all focused and ready to go for this next encounter.”