REPORT | ARGYLE 5 FOREST GREEN ROVERS 1
Argyle 5
Hardie 24, 29
Mumba 38
Wright 48
Whittaker 59
Forest Green Rovers 1
Stevens 33
Argyle cranked up their pre-season preparations with a clinical 5-1 defeat of Forest Green Rovers at the Harper’s Park training ground.
The forward department is certainly firing a fortnight before the Championship campaign opens at home to Huddersfield Town, with Ryan Hardie bagging a brace and further goals from Morgan Whittaker, Callum Wright and the returning Bali Mumba. Matt Stevens scored the consolation for FGR.
Sporting the delicious new away kit, Mumba, who signed a permanent deal with the Pilgrims yesterday, slipped a lovely pass into the danger area for Matt Butcher but he was crowded out by the visiting defence.
Whittaker then had a shot deflected wide before an audacious overhead kick from Hardie midway through the first period skewed off target.
The Greens did get their reward two minutes later, when Hardie and Whittaker swapped passes in the box. Ryan Inniss stuck out a hopeful boot for Rovers and the ball fell perfectly for Hardie to slot past a stranded Luke Daniels.
The FGR custodian was beaten again on the half-hour, Hardie continuing his fine form with a first-time finish from a Mickel Miller cross. Argyle’s dominance did hit a brief hurdle when Stevens halved the deficit on 33 minutes.
Normal service was soon resumed, however, as Wright floated a delightful pass wide to Whittaker for a drilled cross that found Mumba in the right place to thump an emphatic finish beyond the exposed Daniels.
Within three minutes of the restart, Argyle’s lead was extended to 4-1. Hardie instigated the move with a surge down the left and his cutback for Wright was expertly steered into the corner for another lovely goal.
Wright’s next effort just cleared the bar before Whittaker finished the scoring fun on the hour, cleverly moving the ball on to his favourite left-foot and lashing a fabulous strike into the top corner.
The Pilgrims made a string of changes for the closing 30 minutes, which proved to be a quieter affair. Wright did fire another decent strike inches over but the job was done in an explosive first hour of play.
Argyle: 21 Conor Hazard (25 Callum Burton 60); 2 Bali Mumba (3 Jack Matthews 60), 4 Jordan Houghton, 6 Dan Scarr (31 Oscar Halls 71), 7 Matt Butcher (34 Caleb Roberts 71), 9 Ryan Hardie (5 Julio Pleguezuelo 60), 10 Morgan Whittaker (8 Joe Edwards 60), 11 Callum Wright, 14 Mickel Miller (22 Kieran Edworthy 60), 17 Lewis Gibson (23 Ben Waine 60), 20 Adam Randell (capt), 29 Kaine Kesler-Hayden (35 Freddie Issaka 60). Substitute (not used): 33 Zak Baker (gk).
