Billy and Byron

TUESDAY’S Leasing.com Trophy clash with Chelsea at Home Park saw the deployment of a new strike-partnership in the form of Billy Clarke and Byron Moore.

For differing reasons, both players are lacking in match-fitness but displayed a healthy threat to the Blues all night and were unlucky not to reap more reward from a game that produced some excellent link-up play between the forward duo.

It was a first start for the experienced Clarke after joining the Pilgrims in January and a continuation of Moore’s recovery from the injury that has prevented a consistent run in the team over recent weeks.

“Billy’s a clever player but nowhere near the fitness levels of the other players and Byron is just coming back,” said manager Ryan Lowe.

“He [Moore] has been sub lately and coming off the bench but he was a big threat. He could have potentially scored. They know the link-up play and what’s expected, I thought they were alright.”

Another Pilgrim seeking regular football after an injury-curtailed start to the campaign is defender Will Aimson, who has already displayed a tremendous appetite in his first few performances in Green.

Will has had to wait his chance after coming off at half-time in the draw with Swindon in early October and his late substitution against Chelsea last night was purely down to an empty tank.

“He is one of them who wants to stay on the pitch but he blew a gasket a bit, so we took him off,” said Ryan.

“We’ll manage him again in terms of his workload and I thought he was great in the first half. In the second half, he was ok but he was absolutely shattered.

“We’re always happy with him and players up and down the country are going to make mistakes. It’s about how you react to that and his reaction was superb.”