Healthy Competition

ARGYLE manager Derek Adams believes that the Pilgrims’ participation in the Carlsberg South West Peninsula League is good for the competition.

This week, Derek took a team that contained eight players with EFL experience to Cornwall’s Lizard for a Premier Division match that Argyle won 5-1.

While Derek accepts that the quality of his team will vary depending on players’ availability – Saturday’s top-of-the-table clash with Saltash coincides with the first-team home game against Hartlepool, for instance – he thinks the positives of the Pilgrims’ participation outweigh the negatives.

“We are going to get questioned and criticised at times because we are going to play different teams,” he said, “but I feel, at times, I need to give my first-team players an opportunity and I think it can only benefit the league to see some of these players prepared to work hard against the opposition.

“We have taken in quite a bit of money for these teams. The other night, there was a good gate. Any way we can help people in the local are, we will do that.

“The hospitality that Helston gave us was excellent. It’s a very well run football club, with the social club at the side; the pitch was in immaculate condition; and we are grateful they looked after us.”