Schumacher Pleased With Parkway Performance
Argyle’s 2-0 victory against Plymouth Parkway in Tuesday night’s pre-season friendly was a promising display from many of the Greens’ youngsters at Bolitho Park.
Zak Baker, Jack Endacott, Oscar Halls and Will Jenkins Davies, all entering their first seasons with the first team as professionals, played parts in the game, with Jenkins Davies laying on the game’s second goal for Ryan Hardie.
Freddie Issaka, who scored Argyle’s goal in Spain against Heart of Midlothian last week, was again in the action, assisting Ben Waine for the Pilgrims’ opener. He was joined on the field by fellow Under-18 players Caleb Roberts and Henry Donovan, as the 2,000-strong crowd got a glimpse at Argyle’s present and the future.
Manager Steven Schumacher was impressed with the prospects who featured in the friendly, as well as being satisfied with the minutes in the tank gained for the squad in general.
Coming up against a well-organised Parkway side, managed by Lee Hobbs, gave the youth products great experience to aid their development, according to Schumacher.
“It’s always a tough game,” he said. “Lee sets his team up really well organised and hard to break down. It’s a good run out for our lads and an important part of the pre-season schedule.
“I’m pleased that we’ve got through it and everyone got 45 minutes pretty much, so it was a pleasing night.
“The young lads have been with us for the majority of the pre-season. We’re a little bit short in the squad at the moment, as we all know. They’re getting an opportunity to come in and stake a claim which they are doing.
“Freddie and Caleb are obviously catching the eye; Will JD we are forgetting is only a first year and is doing really well; Oscar Halls, Jack Endacott and Zak Baker as well.
“Henry Donovan only came with us today, didn’t even train with us yesterday and just turned up today for the game and I thought he played really well. I’m sure he’s enjoyed his night.
“It’s really good to have them all in and around the first team; they’re only going to learn from this experience and grow.”
Schumacher has signed four new players in the summer window so far: Julio Pleguezuelo, Kaine Kesler-Hayden, Lewis Gibson and, on Tuesday, Conor Hazard. Following a trip to Spain, Julio, Kaine and Lewis all got valuable minutes in the tank in front of the Green Army at Bolitho Park. They all impressed Schumacher with how they handled their first performance in front of the 2,000 strong Green Army.
“This is obviously their first little taste of the Green Army so I’m sure they enjoyed it,” said Schumacher.
“Lewis was with us last week in Spain but only trained three days, so it was probably too soon for him to play any minutes last week. Today was a perfect game for him; it gets him into it and he played really well. It didn’t look like he broke a sweat. He was nice and composed and did well.
“Conor comes with a real good pedigree from Helsinki; adding him to the group makes us a stronger team.
“As new players come into our environment and get used to how we play and the messages we try and put across, the better they’ll be for it.”
