Pilgrims too strong for City in pre-season defeat

City’s third pre-season outing ended in a 3-0 defeat against League 1 side Plymouth Argyle at Cannon Clarke Stadium @ Twerton Park this afternoon.

The visitors controlled proceedings from the opening kick-off but City, despite the hot conditions, worked hard to keep them at bay and Harvey Wiles-Richards was only called into action to twice make routine saves during the opening half an hour. Their resistance was finally broken five minutes before the interval. Baidoo’s cross from the right flank looked to have too much on it but Oseni collected it and turned before driving a low shot under Wiles-Richards from the corner of the six-yard box. The Pilgrims made it 2-0 on the stroke of half-time. Pepple’s perfect pass sent Oseni racing clear on goal and he unselfishly squared the ball to give Baioo a simple tap-in.

The second half was only eight minutes old when Plymouth struck again, Oseni and Baioo combining to set up Amaechi at the back post. The Devon side changed their entire XI just past the hour mark and City began to see more of the ball. They almost pulled a goal back on 68 minutes when Alex Fisher’s header was blocked by Hayman. Argyle’s new-look line-up continued to create additional openings, with Wiles-Richards producing several excellent blocks and further chances flying narrowly wide of the goal. In the end though City stood firm to deny them further goals on a tough afternoon for the Romans.