Hardie's Parkway Reaction

Argyle’s 2-0 win against Plymouth Parkway at Bolitho Park on Tuesday night saw strikers Ryan Hardie and Ben Waine get off the mark for their pre-season campaigns.

Hardie, last season’s top goalscorer, was pleased to get another 45 minutes in the tank off the back of Argyle’s 1-0 victory against Heart of Midlothian in Marbella last week. 

He and Waine played 45 minutes each on Tuesday night, and told Argyle TV that they have been engaging in a little friendly rivalry during the build-up to the 2023/24 season, which begins on Saturday, 5 August.  

“We’ve been having competitions every day in training to see who can score the most goals,” said Hardie. “When he scored in the first half, I had to get one back on him.

“It’s that friendly competition that you need that pushes you on. I was buzzing for him to score. He took his goal really well and I got mine in the end.

“The most important thing in pre-season is the minutes, so to get my 45 minutes in the tank was good. It was against a good standard of opposition, so it was a tough task.

“When we come here, they leave the pitch long and make it hard for us. I think we did well today; we never got frustrated, kept going and got a good win.”

Argyle have made four new additions so far this summer: Julio Pleguezuelo, Kaine Kesler-Hayden, Lewis Gibson and, on Tuesday, Conor Hazard. Julio, Kaine and Lewis all accompanied Hardie and the rest of the Argyle players week in the squad’s trip to the Marbella Football Center.

Following this trip to Spain, the new arrivals have been integrated into the dressing room easily, according to Hardie. The Argyle number nine spoke about how pre-season will be vital for the whole squad as they prepare for the upcoming challenge in the Sky Bet Championship.

“I think it’s definitely an easy squad to get into because everyone gets on,” said Ryan. “There are no cliques anywhere so I think all the new boys would tell you it’s an easy changing room to get on with. I think we’ve welcomed them well and last week was a good introduction. Hopefully there is more to come.

“We know how tough it was last season; I think we were one of the fittest teams in the league if not the fittest, so it’s going to be important to build that fitness up now. This is where it’s done; we’re stepping up a level so we need to step up everything. Step up training, step up our fitness levels and step up everything off the pitch as well.”