Tolaj's double enough to seal Argyle victory

STRIKER Lorent Tolaj scored his first two goals for Plymouth Argyle as they began their Vertu Trophy Southern Section Group B campaign by beating Cheltenham Town 2-0 at Home Park last night.

- By CHRIS ERRINGTON

Tolaj, the recent £1.2 million signing from Port Vale, gave the Pilgrims a fifth-minute lead and they went on to dominate the first half against an inexperienced Cheltenham side.

However, it was not until Tolaj crashed home a shot in the 45th minute that they were able to extend their lead and give the scoreline more of a reflection of how one-sided it had been.

Argyle lost their attacking spark in the second half, though, and Cheltenham had a couple of decent chances to reduce their deficit but Josh Martin could not hit the target on either occasion.

Substitute Bim Pepple had a chance to get his first goal for Argyle when he was fouled inside the penalty area but he then had his spot kick saved by Cheltenham's 17-year-old debutant Mamadou Diallo.

Still, it was a clean sheet for the Pilgrims and three points from the first of their three Southern Section Group B games, with Tottenham Hotspur under-21s to come next, also at Home Park, on September 23.

Defender Mathias Ross made his debut for Argyle against Cheltenham and it was a good opportunity for the former Denmark under-21 international to get some game time after being without a club for preseason and the start of the campaign.

Ross was one of four changes to Argyle's team from the 4-0 League One defeat at Cardiff City on Saturday, with captain Joe Edwards, first-year professional Joe Hatch and Owen Oseni also getting called up.

The trio of Kornel Szucs, Ayman Benarous and Caleb Watts dropped down to the substitutes' bench and on-loan defender Alex Mitchell was not in the matchday squad.

Argyle made two loan signings in the hours leading up to the transfer deadline on Monday evening, but neither of them were involved in the Vertu Trophy tie.