Today was the first day of the new season in the Coca-Cola Championship; and Argyle disappointed at home against Wolves. The Pilgrims opened the scoring in the 35th minute courtesy of new boy Barry Hayles with his first competitive goal for the Green’s. But Matthias Doumbe undid Hayles good work when he deflected Kevin O’Connor’s shot past his own keeper Luke McCormick shortly after the half-time interval. Wolves will definitely be the happier of the two teams, taking a point away from Home Park. I’m sure that Ian Holloway wanted to start his competitive managerial career at Argyle with a win, and I suppose a point is better than nothing, but Argyle really should have taken all three points from the fixture! But at least we have one piece of solace, Tony ‘Judas’ Pulis’ team Stoke City lost away to Southend this afternoon, so they are languishing in 21st place, while Argyle are flying relatively high in 9th place. Yes I know its only the first match of the season and the league positions are next to useless at the moment, but it’ll give the Argyle fans some satisfaction to see Stoke City lose and be positioned below Argyle in the league!
My other football interest, Liverpool didn’t fare so well, being hammered 5 – 0 in a pre-season friendly against German side FSV Mainz, which follows on from their 2 – 0 defeat to Swiss side Grasshopper last Tuesday. So it’s not been a good start from Liverpool, especially considering they have a vital match against Maccabi Haifa in the Champions League qualifier next Wednesday. Liverpool will certainly have to up their game significantly if they wish to make it into the Champions League competition this season!