Plymouth target win over Pirates in preseason friendly

Assistant coach Pete Shuttleworth says the winning mentality that head coach Wayne Rooney is trying to instill at Plymouth Argyle will extend to their first pre-season games,  starting with Friday’s match against Orlando Pirates.

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The Pilgrims will play for the first time under Rooney when they take on the Buccaneers at their training base in Marbella on Friday night (kick off is 7pm SA time).

“The gaffer (Wayne Rooney) will want to win every game, I know that – first pre-season game, last pre-season game, Carabao Cup. He’s never going to go and say ‘this is just about minutes’,” Shuttleworth told Plymouth Live.

“Now, the reality is it’s a first game, there will be things we want to see that we have implemented in the last seven days (of pre-season training), and we have seen some of that in our internal 11 v 11s as well.

“So it will be nice to see that against an opposition and see whether the lads are taking in what we are asking them to do and trying that. We will also get the lads some exposure to that 11 v 11 competitive minutes, but ultimately the gaffer will want to win every game.

“If we can go into Sheffield Wednesday with a 100 per cent record of winning five games it’s never going to do you any harm. The gaffer doesn’t believe in this ‘It doesn’t matter what you do in pre-season’. He’s a winner and that’s what his mentality is.”

Pirates prepare for CAF Champions League 

Meanwhile, Pirates coach Jose Riveiro is looking to use their time in Spain to fine-tune his squad ahead of what will be a demanding season for the Buccaneers.

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Pirates will be playing in the CAF Champions League this coming season after finishing second in the DStv Premiership.

Riveiro’s team has been drawn against Disciples FC of Madagascar in the first preliminary round of the continental competition, with the winner of that fixture set to face the winner between Jwaneng Galaxy of Botswana and Namibia’s African Stars.