The First of Remi

AS debuts go, Saturday’s first Argyle match for Remi Matthews was a pretty good one.

The Norwich goalkeeper, drafted in on emergency loan to help alleviate the ongoing injury crisis at the club, kept a clean sheet as Argyle recorded a vital three points at AFC Wimbledon. From Remi’s perspective, simply getting the opportunity to play was highlight enough for the man typically third-choice ‘keeper at Norwich, but who spent last season benign borrowed to Hamilton.

“It was just nice to play a game,” said Remi. “Last year I was playing week in week out, so to have started this season not being involved in too many games, it was just nice to get one under my belt. The three points and clean sheet is always ideal too!”

Despite having only had one full day prior to the game in which to meet his new teammates, Matthews did not seem too concerned about not knowing the rest of his defence too well, and was happy with how the game played out from a team perspective.

He said: “I came in on Friday and tried to get to know everyone, and it’s hard on a day’s notice. So I went into the game maybe not knowing all the names but as you play you get to know them anyway. But yeah, as you saw on Saturday we defended really well and when we wanted to play, we played.”

Remi has had a full week of training at the club now, working with goalkeeping coach Rhys Wilmot on an almost one-to-one basis, with the rest of Argyle’s goalkeepers still recovering from various injuries. The situation suits Remi, who had complimentary things to say about Wilmot.

“Yeah, been impressed with him,” said Remi. “He’s a nice guy as well, so I look forward to working with him for however long I’m here for. It’s probably just me and Coops (Michael Cooper) for the majority of the time, and if a couple of the younger lads can come up then that will be ideal for us.”

Next up for Remi is his home debut against Rochdale on Saturday. Having checked out the pitch, he is looking forward to getting on it and showing the Green Army what he can do.

“You can see from the stands how nice the pitch is and how well it’s kept,” he said. “I’ve been down there, and it’s probably one of the nicest pitches in the league. I played in League One a few years ago and I experienced a few different pitches.

“The stadium’s lovely, so I’m definitely looking forward to making my home debut and hopefully we’ll get the three points. It will be nice to see how the fans are and hopefully they make me feel welcome.”