Sloppy Argyle frustrate Rooney

Plymouth Argyle boss Wayne Rooney admitted mistakes cost his side as they slipped to their first pre-season defeat of the season at Bristol Rovers.

First half goals from Promise Omochere and Jack Hunt gave the home side a 2-0 advantage, before the Pilgrims hit back late on with a strike from Ryan Hardie.

It was the first setback on the tenure of Rooney, who post-game did not hide the fact that he was unhappy with aspects of his side’s performance, which he described at times as ’sloppy’.

“When you lose a fame this is always disappointment,” he said. “I thought we were a bit soppy, the way Bristol pressed us we didn’t get round or through their press well enough.

“I think that comes from maybe a lack of concentration, lack of ball speed, tempo. It’s frustrating, but it something we need to work on to make sure we get it right.

“I want teams to press us, but we have to be good enough to play through that, that way you get your attacking players on that in dangerous areas. Tonight, they weren’t giving us that time on the ball.

“We were taking too many touches, it was too slow, we weren’t moving the ball quick enough and within 20 minutes we could have been 3-0 down from giving the ball away and making mistakes.”

Argyle kick-off their new Sky Bet Championship season on Sunday, August 11 when they travel to Sheffield Wednesday and they have one final warm-up fixture, against MK Dons this Saturday, to finalise their seasonal plans.

Rooney added: “We’ll go back and analyse the game and prepare for Saturday. I’m a little disappointed, but the main thing is getting minutes into the players.

"Some players getting 90 minutes was good for us, and the most important thing now is Sheffield Wednesday, so we have still got time to work on the details we need to work on.”

Meanwhile, Rooney has re-iterated his stance that he expects both Morgan Whittaker and Michael Cooper to be part of Argyle’s plans at Hillsborough on the opening day.

Both have been linked with moves away from Home Park this summer, goalkeeper Cooper in particular, after he turned down the offer of a new contract from the club recently.

"They are two very important players. Nothing has changed. They are Argyle players and I'm very confident that will remain for the rest of this season," said the Pilgrims' head coach.

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