New Argyle boss is making progress with the Pilgrims

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With finances tight at Home Park, new manager Peter Reid is relying on trialists to bolster the Argyle squad. And with former Everton player Anton Peterlin on the verge of signing on a one year deal, the persistence seems to be paying off, with hopefully more to come.

The American midfielder played a large extent of the pre-season games for Plymouth, including over an hour of the game against AZ Alkmaar. And it was enough to impress Reid with his energetic performances to earn a deal with the Pilgrims:

"He has done well in the games he's played, he has plenty of energy,” said the Plymouth manager. “We've got experience in [Damien] Johnson, [Carl] Fletcher and [Luke] Summerfield, but he's a bit younger and with legs. When it goes through, we'll be delighted to have him on board.”

Another trialist, former Pilgrim Tony Capaldi, who featured in Holland, is also looking for a deal, but with interest from another club, believed to be Crystal Palace, talks are on-going at the present.

The left back, who played over 100 times in front of the Green Army, is a free agent after leaving Cardiff City in the summer. But another left back who has also left his club in the summer and maybe competing with Capaldi for a contract is Lee Molyneux.

The 21-year-old spent a year with Southampton but only made four appearances in his entire time for the Saints. And the graduate of Everton's youth academy, who joined on trial at the weekend, will feature against Hereford United at Edgar Street in Plymouth’s penultimate pre-season friendly.

Reid is also looking at central defender Stephane Zubar, who is the younger brother of Ronald who plays his trade for Premier League club Wolverhampton Wanderers. Stephane, 23, has been with SC Vaslui in Romania's Liga 1 for the past two years making 33 appearances for them last season.

The manager decided to take a look at the defender after recommendations from the Wolves manager: “Mick McCarthy put me on to him and he will have a few days with us," said Reid.

Pilgrimage to Holland proves successful

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The team’s week was spent at the Papendal National Sport Centre, near Arnhem, a top facility used by many national and international teams. The complex had the latest training equipment and sports medical centre, and provided the players with everything they needed to help them gain full match fitness.

The three games that the Pilgrims had planned were against top-quality opposition, including AZ Alkmaar who had featured in the Champions League only just last season. The other two, NAC Breda and SC Cambuur would also provide stern challenges with Breda playing its trade in the Eredivise and Cambuur only just missing out on a place in Holland’s top division this season.

And stern challenges they were. A win a loss and a draw not sounding like much, but it was the hard working performances that showed great promise ahead of this season in League One. The loss to Alkmaar was only by a single goal, a very dubious penalty.

But Argyle did well throughout the match with the defence of Krisztian Timar, Kari Arnason, Karl Duguid and returning trialist Tony Capaldigiving a committed performance, keeping AZ’s constant attacking threat at bay for the majority of the match.

The win in the first game against was also a battling affair with Plymouth doing well to deal with Breda’s strong possession approach before youngster Joe Mason got the only goal. The striker’s performances during the tour being a definite highlight, scoring three of the five goals Argyle did score whilst in the Netherlands.

And then to the final game staged in the SC Franeker ground where injury to defender Bondz N’Gala and tiredness from a long tour stopped Argyle from getting their second win.

But it wasn’t just on the pitch that benefited the Pilgrims. Spending a week in a hotel allowed the team to spend a lot of time together which for new signing Rory Patterson was just what he and the rest of the team needed:

“It's probably the best way you could think of because you are with the lads all day and night.

"You have breakfast and dinner together, so you get to know each other a lot easier.”

So with the team gelling on and off the pitch, new manager Peter Reid will have been nothing short of ecstatic with the outcome of the tour.

And with Reid’s philosophy of “play it on the deck” beginning to filter through the team, hopefully continuing in to the last two friendlies of pre-season against Hereford United and Queen Park Rangers coming up, the Green Army have “Dutch” to look forward to.