Argyle’s final pre-season friendly ended in defeat to Bristol City, as the Robins won 2-0, in front of nearly 10,000 at Home Park.
Both goals were scored by Danish forward Emil Riis, who bagged two before the half-time break.
Riis was the first to draw any sort of blood in the game, firing a shot toward Luca Ashby-Hammond’s near post that the Argyle goalkeeper did well to turn round the post.
After City’s initial bright start, Argyle came into the game increasingly as the game reached the quarter stage, with Bali Mumba and Xavier Amaechi getting involved. It was from a foul on the former that the latter sent in a free-kick which Kornel Szucs met, but had his header deflected wide. Bradley Ibrahim also sent in a teasing cross that none of his team-mates could quite reach.
Argyle also fashioned a half-chance; well, Owen Oseni practically did so on his own, weaving around defenders in the left channel, but eventually shooting into the side-netting.
City, though, took the lead through Riis, with a lot of the hard work being done by Anis Mehmeti. The Albania international drove at the heart of Argyle, drawing several defenders, before teeing up Riis, who thundered home.
Riis got his, and City’s, second just under ten minutes before the break. This time the visitors attacked down the left and crossed low, with Riis making contact that was not perfectly clean, but enough to force the ball home.
City had certainly shown their Championship class during the first period, making life difficult for Argyle, but their two-goal interval advantage felt a little harsh on the Pilgrims.
The second period produced precious few chances, but plenty of changes. A game which in the first half had plenty of snap, and did not resemble a typical pre-season affair, now strayed into that territory, with minutes in the legs and preparation for next weekend’s season opener the obvious focus.
Three of Argyle’s many subs combined for the Greens’ best chance, with 15 minutes to play. Ex-Robin Jamie Paterson played a nice ball out to Freddie Issaka on the right and, after winning a tussle, the young Argyle winger crossed to his fellow Academy graduate Joe Hatch. Hatch’s header was pretty good, but he was denied a chance to score at the Babcock Devonport End by a superb save by City keeper Lewis Thomas.
At the other end, City broke, and Ashby-Hammond saved – and held – smartly from a low effort by Mehmeti, and Scott Twine hit the bar with a direct free-kick attempt, before Sinclair Armstrong tested Ashby-Hammond one final time, with Argyle’s newest recruit making another strong save.
Pre-season over – the countdown is on.
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