Under-18s Preview | Bristol City v Argyle

Argyle’s Under-18 team are in action this Saturday, 8 October, away to Bristol City for their second Professional Development League Cup game of the season (11am).

The Young Pilgrims suffered a rare defeat this season, to Exeter City, in the first game in this competition’s round-robin group stage but will look to make up for that against The Robins.

Darren Way’s side returns to Bristol just a week later after winning comfortably by two goals and keeping a clean sheet against Bristol Rovers in the Youth Alliance League.

The PDL Cup offers Way’s side the chance to play against teams from higher-grade academies. Way emphasised the excitement to play on the excellent playing surface at Bristol’s City new training ground facilities, and said: “It’s got all the ingredients to be a really exciting game.

“We are really looking forward to the game, it will be good competition, as they’ve got some excellent players. They play through the thirds and have some quick players who we must be aware of in transitional moments.

“It will also be nice to see Micky Bell again and go in the technical area against him, he’s an excellent coach who’s been at Bristol City for a number of years.”

Bristol City come into this game after two consecutive defeats, against Colchester United and Millwall respectfully. City drew their previous game in this cup 2-2 against Swansea.

Argyle are 100% in their league games this season, and are obviously playing with great confidence, but Way cautions that standards must stay high as their development continues.

“The team has become much better,” he said.  “We have good individuals but collectively everyone is working well. We’ve had a strong week in training, and we’ve asked the players that there is no room to be average, we want to make sure there is an intensity to our sessions every day and you can see that in the performances, we are becoming better as a team.”