Roving Brief

A 250-mile round trip might not be everyone’s idea of what constitutes a derby game...

...but for Plymouth Argyle, it is practically an amble round the corner.

Distance will not bother manager John Sheridan and his team; they travelled over 1000 miles in a week to Dagenham and Fleetwood and emerged with six points.

To the Green Army, though, a shorter trip from Plymouth means more people have the chance to watch the Pilgrims on the road – something that is becoming a real pleasure these days.

Argyle have lost only one of their last seven games away from Home Park, including wins in their last three. Factor in a 5-0 thumping of Morecambe at home last weekend, and you can see why anticipation is high for Saturday’s trip to the Memorial Stadium.

The travelling allocation of tickets sold out on Monday morning. Another 100 were released and went within two hours. Around 1,400 Pilgrims will be in Bristol to roar on their heroes. And the gaffer acknowledges their part to play.

“It’s a derby game,” said Sheridan. “We’ll have a really good following there. They create a really good atmosphere, our fans. We want to give them something to go home smiling about. These are the games you want to play in as a player, in front of decent crowds.

“It’s always a good game, a derby game. We would probably have sold three or four thousand tickets if we had them. We’ll have 1,400 or 1,500 there; our away fans are brilliant. They get right behind the team whoever we are playing – whether there are 200 or 1,500. They always make a racket and hopefully they will help us get the result we are after.”