Next Up: Plymouth Argyle Away

After an encouraging opening day draw against promotion hopefuls Portsmouth and a narrow defeat to Championship big spenders Bournemouth, it’s the shortest and most eagerly-anticipated of trips first up for Paul Tisdale’s depleted City side. The Devon Derby is always the first fixture the fans of both clubs look for when the new season’s list is released, and they didn’t have to look very far down the list. Liam Sercombe missed out on the midweek Capital One Cup clash but will hope to be in contention to return, while Jordan Moore-Taylor has also been sidelined. City could find themselves with two new players in the squad should the PFA loan be repaid, with ex-Wales international Christian Ribeiro and Irish forward Graham Cummins ready to sign on the dotted line as soon as the transfer embargo is lifted.

Plymouth have been installed as one of the pre-season promotion favourites, with John Sheridan anxious to build on a decent second half of last season that saw the Pilgrims eventually come up short in their late playoff bid. However, they fell to defeat against league returnees Cambridge on Saturday and followed up with a penalty shootout defeat to League One Leyton Orient on Tuesday night. Key to their fortunes will be the form and fitness of crowd favourite Reuben Reid, who has got off to a decent start with a double against the Os. One familiar face, likely to be warming the bench, is former City keeper James Bittner, who completed a somewhat surprising Devon treble when he moved to Plymouth in the summer having spent last season on the bench and coaching in the Conference with Salisbury.

Overall form versus that in derbies is a question that has exercised the minds of many a fan over the years, with the question of “Would you rather have a decent season and lose to your rivals or have a poor season and beat them?” appearing on fans’ forums aplenty. City, having had a few seasons of the former, experienced the latter last season, essentially scuppering Plymouth’s promotion hopes by taking the full six points from the Devon Derbies – City’s 3-1 win at the Park in October was a fair reflection of form at the time – Davies put City ahead with a screamer, Luke Young equalised only for late goals from Gow and Bennett to seal what would be City’s last home win for several months. The return went against the form book – Reid’s penalty on half time appeared to give Plymouth the edge, but a stunning comeback with goals from Sercombe and Elliot Richards ensured derby bragging rights were firmly with City and played a huge role in ensuring City’s eventual safety. It is that lot down the A38, however, who have the overall league head-to-head lead, with 25 wins to City’s 17 (20 draws).

Roger East is the Ref – http://www.exeweb.com/2014/08/11/east-to-take-charge-of-devon-derby/

YouTube highlights of last years Devon Derby at Home Park