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Search forPilgrims send costly second XI to Reading
Wednesday, October 08, 2008, 10:00
The Pilgrims take on Reading in a Totesport Football Combination Cup fixture with a side packed almost full with senior players. Two men who have been the subject of record-breaking transfer deals by the Home Park club this year are making the trip to Berkshire.
Steve MacLean, who cost Argyle what was then their record fee of £500,000 when he was bought from Cardiff City, will start up front. Former Queen's Park Rangers midfielder Simon Walton, whose fee of £750,000 surpassed MacLean's mark, will also play.
Former Manchester City striker Emile Mpenza, who is costing the Pilgrims a small fortune in wages, will be MacLean's attacking partner. Jason Puncheon, Jim Paterson and Yoann Folly, who each came to Home Park for six-figure fees this year, are also in the line-up. So are Hungarian international central defender Krisztian Timar and experienced French winger Nicolas Marin.
Goalkeeper Graham Stack is ill, which means that Lloyd Saxton will feature in a reserve game for only the second time this season. He and defenders Shane White and Ben Gerring are the only members of the Pilgrims' side with no first- team experience.
Walton, Puncheon, and MacLean were all regular participants in first-team fixtures at the start of the season, but they have not featured in the Coca-Cola Championship in recent weeks. Argyle manager Paul Sturrock is hoping that they and other players who will see action against the Royals this afternoon will put into practice what they have been asked to do in training sessions lately.
"We've been working very hard on the shape of the team in training along the lines of what we've been playing in the Championship," Sturrock said. "That means, when they get their opportunity again, they won't misunderstand how I want the game to be played."
Reading have named a reserve team which includes James Harper and Kalifa Cisse, who were both in the Royals' starting line-up for their 2-0 Championship home win over Argyle in August.
Argyle reserves: L Saxton; S White, K Timar, B Gerring, J Paterson; N Marin, S Walton, Y Folly, J Puncheon; S MacLean, E Mpenza. Substitutes: O Chenoweth, R Brett, S Kinsella, D McCrory, A Barnes.
Reading reserves: M Andersen; J Kelly, A Pearce, K Cisse, S Golbourne, J Henry, J Harper, N Bignall, O Bozanic; D Mooney, G Sigurdsson. Substitutes: D Spence, A McCarthy, T Hateley, G Frewen, K Bossman.
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