Source: TruroPeople Link HERE
Manager Peter Reid has predicted Plymouth Argyle will face another competitive pre-season friendly when they host Truro City tonight (7.45pm).
The Pilgrims have been narrowly beaten in both of their previous games, which were against higher-level opposition.
They lost 3-2 to Championship club Bristol City on July 15, and then suffered a 1-0 defeat when Premier League newcomers Queen's Park Rangers visited Home Park last Wednesday.
Truro have been promoted five times in the last six seasons. Newly elevated to the Conference South, they are two divisions below Argyle in the football pyramid. Their experienced squad includes several former Plymouth players, including Steve Adams and Barry Hayles.
Their manager is Lee Hodges, a two-times promotion winner with Argyle. So Truro are bound to be well up for the challenge of taking on the Pilgrims, even in pre-season.
Reid said: "Whoever you play against, you try to get your priorities right. I want us to get the ball down and pass it, and when we haven't got it I want us to get it back.
"It's just the same whether you are playing Truro, Bristol City or Queen's Park Rangers. You want competitive games in pre-season, and Home Park is a really good pitch."
Truro were crowned the Southern League Premier Division champions in May. Reid said: "They had a fantastic season and deserve a lot of credit. The manager [Hodges] is inexperienced, but has done a tremendous job.
"It's a great game for us in terms of pre-season, against a team full of ex-pros. We've got some young lads who are gaining experience all the time so it should be a good match."
Defenders Durrell Berry (hip) and Curtis Nelson (ankle) are injury doubts for Argyle. With the new Football League campaign only ten days away, Reid will not take any risks on the pair's fitness. Berry had to sit out the game against QPR because of a hip injury which has troubled him for much of pre-season.
Trialist Gerard Kinsella, a 19-year-old former Everton midfielder, could also be absent tonight. He suffered a knee injury in training last week, and it has flared up again.
Argentinian winger Andres Gurrieri, 22, remains on trial with Argyle as talks about a possible move to Home Park continue to take place. Reid said: "We're hoping to tie something up with him. He has done well."
Three new trialists will get their first run-outs for the Pilgrims tonight. French striker Joseph Mendes and midfield pair Joe Holt and Conor Hourihane all started training with Argyle on Monday.
Reid has been encouraged by Argyle's pre-season to date, but he knows that what really matters is the result when Argyle go to Shrewsbury Town in their League Two opener on Saturday, August 6.
Reid said: "The players have done well and worked hard. I think they have enjoyed it – but the first League game of the season is the acid test."
Hodges was appointed as Truro's caretaker manager towards the end of the 2009-10 season, and then took over in a full-time capacity last summer. He said: "Home Park holds lots of happy memories for me, and I'm really looking forward to the game.
"I didn't think at any time I would be back there, sitting in the opposition dug-out." Ex-Argyle players Joe Broad, Marcus Martin, Dan Smith, Andy Watkins and Stewart Yetton are in City's squad, along with Hayles and Adams.
Josh Shepherd's goal in stoppage time kept alive Argyle's hopes of reaching the semi-finals of the Northern Ireland Milk Cup as they drew 1-1 with County Armagh in Ballymoney yesterday. Allan Evans' youngsters must beat Reading in today's game at Castlerock if they are to maintain their hopes of reaching the last four in the Junior section.
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