Scarr happy with Swans test

Dan Scarr is not afraid of tough tests, which is something pre-season is renowned for.

In the micro, Dan was reacting to Argyle’s 1-1 draw against Championship side Swansea City at Home Park. The visitors saw plenty of the ball, especially in the first half, during which they took an early lead fire Joel Piroe’s goal.

As the game wore on, though, Argyle played their way into it, and deserved the draw given to them by Ryan Hardie’s late equaliser.

From Scarr’s perspective, along with the whole defensive unit, it took a very good goal to breach them, and on the whole Swansea did not have all that many chances.

“It was good to test ourselves against good Championship players,” said Scarr.  “They’ve got good rotation, a lot of players who know what they are doing. They are probably better than what we are going to come up against this season. To do well against that, and limit them to not many chances, I thought we did well. 

“These are the games you look forward to in pre-season, because you want to see how you shape up against a team like that that is going to keep the ball, predominantly. We have a lot of the ball in the league, so it is good to come up against teams where you are not going to have so much of the ball, and it’s all about your shape, being disciplined and resolute.

“They had a couple of long-range shots. They have quality players and we limited them to those sorts of chances. The shape was good. Everyone talked and dug in.”

On a more general level, Dan reckons that the paces he and his team-mates are being put through are among the hardest he has had in his career so far, but he recognises the grounding that will give the squad, with the season beginning on 30 July against Barnsley, at Home Park.

“It’s been one of the tougher pre-seasons that I’ve had,” he said. “Everyone seems to be doing well, everyone seems to be fit and strong. Everyone drags each other along. We look a lot fitter as a group. You can’t afford to fall behind.

“Now the games are coming we start to look at the tactical side of things. A lot of the hard running yards is done, everything is now shorter and sharper, and about tuning your mind.

“You want to pick up a rhythm. As soon as you get into a Saturday-Tuesday routine, getting the tiredness out of your legs, doing that sort of schedule, the better.

“It was nice to walk out in front of the fans. We haven’t had that feeling for a while, with the off-season. It was a good turnout. It still gave me goosebumps, walking out tonight. I can’t wait for that first game of the season at home. I’m really looking forward to it.”