Game-Time

HAVING secured a competitive squad for this season’s Sky Bet League Two campaign, Argyle manager Ryan Lowe has shifted his focus to securing loan moves for some of squad.

The Pilgrims have already sent prospects Luke Jephcott and Ryan Law out on loan to Paul Wotton’s Truro City, while Ashley Smith-Brown has joined Sky Bet League Two Oldham Athletic on a season-long loan. Lowe is looking to add to that list, giving more of his players the opportunity to get game-time elsewhere.

“There’s going to be one or two more that might start to slip out of the door on loan over the next week or two, so we’ve got to make sure that we are well prepared for that,” said Lowe.

“What we want with the lads is to get some game-time, because they may not get much here.

“The under-23’s doesn’t start for a while, the [Leasing.com Trophy], we’re not in action in that for a month or two, and in all honesty I want to be as strong as possible in those competitions – so there may not be an option for those type of players in these games.”

Lowe would not be drawn on which players he was looking to send out on-loan, clearly wishing to honour the trust of a squad that seems as tight-knit as ever. What he would say, though, was that loan moves away from Home Park did not represent the end of their Pilgrim careers. In fact, he wants his players to see loan moves as an opportunity for peripheral squad members to force their way into his first-team plans.

“We spoke to them in-house, and it’s only right that we keep that between us,” said Ryan. “We spoke to certain individuals and said, ‘go and get yourself some game time.’ When you get farmed out on loan, depending on what club or status you’re at, it’s as if it’s the end of the world for the kid, but it’s not.

“Go and get some games, and then we will address it in January. If you haven’t done what we’d expect you to do then it might be a different story, but ultimately it’s up to the lads who are not in the match-day squads to go and get some game-time. Let me read and have videos of what you’re doing and how you’re performing, and then, if it’s good enough, you’ll get a chance.”