Ryan Perks previews Torquay after Yeovil win

Argyle Women's Head Coach Ryan Perks hopes his side can repeat their winning performance from Sunday against Torquay United on Tuesday night. 

The Greens ran away as 6-0 victors against Yeovil Town at Manadon Sports Hub in their opening home pre-season fixture, in which Perks was extremely happy with the output in front of goal but was hoping for a larger scoreline. 

“We created lots of opportunities today and probably should’ve scored a few more goals,” Perks said, “which is probably the only real negative to take from the game. Everyone got lots of minutes in their legs, so there are plenty of positives to take. 

“I think the game panned out how we expected it to when we booked the pre-season friendly. We expected to dominate the ball and looked at our patterns and how we were with the ball. 

“Yeovil did give us a test, however. Maybe a different one to what we would face in the league, but we’ve got to plan for every avenue and what might happen.  

“They had a couple of chances, and Lily [Felgate] made some decent saves from those, but we dominated the ball and were excellent with it.  

“It’s hard sometimes when you’re so dominant to keep the momentum, but we freshened it up with the substitutes, and they came on and did excellently. Overall, a very pleasing performance.” 

Argyle's top goalscorer last season, Ellie Sara, and Charlotte Whitmore created multiple chances with some neat link-up play, with three goals between them in front of the home crowd. Perks was pleased with their partnership in the first 45, but also the link between other squad members. 

“We know what Charlotte and Ellie bring to the team and that link is getting there slowly but surely,” he said. 

“We’ve added a couple of new faces into the squad, and all are showing signs of linking up well. Things are moving in the right direction. 

“We’re not worried about pre-season results, it’s just about performances. We’ve built on a good second-half, out-of-possession performance against Cardiff and played an excellent 90 minutes with the ball today.  

“We’ll lead now into Tuesday against Torquay and hopefully replicate the game today.” 

With only one day between the two fixtures, Perks is cautious of overworking some of his squad but knows how tough it may be during the season. He is hopeful this will provide some valuable experience to those involved. 

“One day’s rest could be a problem,” Perks told Argyle TV, “we’ve had a few away. Imy [Crawford] has got 90 minutes in her legs against Yeovil, but with our squad, we’ve rotated as much as we can.  

“I think most players have only played 45 minutes so they should be fine. 

“Torquay haven’t played yet so they should be fresher but we’re going to have times in the season where we are a bit fatigued and will have to deal with it. Hopefully, this can simulate that, and we’ll see how the players deal with it.” 

Watch the post-match interview with Ryan Perks on Argyle TV.