It's been a bit of a hobby horse of mine recently that we start home games too slowly and never score early goals, so it's ironic (and quite funny!) that when a City team score a goal in the first minute, I get in too late to see it!
Sorry, I cannot tell you anything about Jonathan Kift's goal today because the first thing I saw as I got into the Grandstand was the ball being relayed back to the centre spot for Plymouth to restart the game!
Anyway, I can tell you about the rest of what was a decent game! The remainder of the first period saw a young City team with only Stuart Fleetwood having any league experience generally coming off second best to a more experienced Plymouth team which had five players who had played in the league for them.
The City were not overrun in the first half by any means, but the general flow of play was towards their goal and they had some narrow escapes, but, up the other end Cameron Jerome, Nicky Fish and Joe Ledley all came close to adding to Kift's goal.
After the break, the game was more even, but swung decisively the City's way after they doubled their lead when Ledley, making his last contribution before being replaced by Michael Parkins, was brought down when through on goal for an obvious penalty. Stuart Fleetwood swept his kick to the left of Larrieu in the Plymouth goal and into the net, but the referee had seen some encroachment and ordered the kick to be retaken - this time Fleetwood put the ball in the other corner as the keeper dived the right way but didn't get near to stopping the shot.
After that, Plymouth had one ot two opportunities, but City had numerous chances to add to their lead as Fleetwood's pace became more of a factor as the game went on with Jerome, Fleetwood, Parkins, Khalil and Anthony all coming close.
The game finished 2-0 however and it was especially pleasing to finally see a City team keep a clean sheet! To my mind, the main reason for us doing this was the central defensive partnership of Parslow and Anthony with the latter being particularly impressive. Both players had one or two lapses and, to be fair to Plymouth, they did deserve a goal for their efforts, but the pair of them did an excellent job nonetheless.
This time last year Byron Anthony was playing as captain in central defence for the reserves and, to be frank, looked out of his depth in my opinion, but today you could see why he has earned a contract and was on the bench last night at Kidderminster - like Parslow, he tackled well and was good in the air for his height (I doubt it if he is six foot tall) and he also played one or two quality passes through to the strikers as well as almost scoring with a header from a Parkins corner.
In midfield I was most impressed by Tariq Khalil. Apart from one appearance for the reserves which ended after about ten minutes when he dislocated his shoulder, this was my first look at him and he did very well as a holding player in front of the central defenders. His tackling was crisp and well timed and he showed some good ability with the ball at his feet as well as playing some clever passes.
Joe Ledley is a player who has attracted a fair bit of attention already and, although he only featured for an hour or so, there were signs that he is a talented player - he barely gave the ball away, he and Kift had no trouble in switching wings after about 30 minutes and he spent the rest of his game on the right from where he made a well timed run to gain the penalty.
I should also mention Cameron Jerome who again impressed me as a target man with a good touch. However, to be fair to all of the players, there wasn't a weak player in the City team today as they confirmed the impression I gained of them last year after Paul Wilkinson took over, that is that they are a pretty talented, well coached outfit who try to play football the right way - if you find yourself with a free Wednesday afternoon this winter, they are well worth a watch