Argyle travel to Exeter for the first time in over 2 years as the Pilgrims look to earn bragging rights over their Devon rivals.
These games always mean more, both in the stands and on the pitch, tensions will undoubtedly be high on Thursday night at a sold out St James park.
Its fair to say its been a incredibly underwhelming start to the season for The Pilgrims so far who are currently 21st and in the relegation zone, the Greens will need to see immediate improvement to start climbing the table and what better way to kickstart a run than a potential victory over fierce rivals.
Exeter are currently 20th in the league table, on the same amount of points as Argyle and only above them on goal difference.
The last time the two sides met Argyle came out on top, with Matt Butcher’s second half goal being the only difference between the two sides, the victory that day completed a Devon Derby double for the Greens in the 22/23 season, who beat Exeter 4-2 at Home Park earlier on in that season in a thrilling encounter on Halloween, with goals coming from Morgan Whittaker, Bali Mumba and a brace from Ryan Hardie.
The only players left in the squad who played in the last Devon Derby are Bali Mumba, Brendan Galloway and club captain Joe Edwards, who can make his 250th appearance for the Greens should he play against Exeter on Thursday, a feet that would give him “immense pride”
Ahead of the game in the pre match press conference, Edwards spoke on the importance of the fixture and the chance to become an Argyle hero,
“I have also touched on it with the boys this week, playing in these games you can become a hero. There is players who haven’t played many games for Argyle but have still got a really good name and brought up in these occasions because they have scored in these games or they have won these games.
“It’s a chance to become a hero and you want to be on the right side of it, so we have to prepare fully for it. We know how important it is, not just in the league table but for the club. For me to be able to be captain of this club and also play this amount of games is immense pride.”
Team News –
Argyle manager Tom Cleverley has left open the possibility of Owen Dale returning to the squad for the Devon Derby, explaining that Dale was left out of the match day squad last weekend In the defeat against AFC Wimbledon due to a change in tactical approach.
Kornel Szucs is back in contention and available for selection, Szucs had started the first 7 league matches of the campaign before picking up an injury in training that ruled has ruled him out for around a month, his return to the squad will be a big boost for the Greens.
Amaechi, Watts, Pleguezuelo and Mackenzie, who is yet to make his debut for Argyle, all remain ruled out with long term injuries.
Argyle manager Tom Cleverley has also left open the possibility of Owen Dale returning to the squad for the Devon Derby, explaining that Dale was left out of the match day squad last weekend In the defeat against AFC Wimbledon due to a change in tactical approach.
There are no new injury concerns ahead of the Derby.
