PLYMOUTH Argyle made an impressive start to their pre-season campaign with a 4-1 victory over Plymouth Parkway at Bolitho Park.

The Pilgrims needed less than two minutes to take the lead as striker Bim Pepple calmly finished past Aaron Dearing after a bright opening.

Parkway hit back just after the half-hour when Will Sullivan unleashed a superb right-footed strike beyond James Storer to level the scores. However, Argyle restored their advantage just before the break through Michael Baidoo.

Head coach Tom Cleverley made nine changes at half-time and one of his substitutes, Owen Oseni, made an instant impact by scoring just 34 seconds after the restart. Oseni added his second late on after good work from Tegan Finn sealed a comfortable victory.

Cleverley admitted the first outing of pre-season brought plenty of positives despite some rustiness.

“First game is always a landmark in pre-season and, in the main, I was pleased,” he said. “We made a few technical mistakes in the first half and our decision-making got a bit sloppy at times, but that's to be expected in the heat and on a slow pitch.

“We created enough to score more goals, but we conceded a soft goal and we put ourselves at risk too many times just by a little bit of lack of concentration, lack of technique, which is normal.

“I don't blame the players for that, it’s rustiness, which on a hot day is normal. We will iron that out, we will get fitter, and then I thought the second half team did brilliant.

“They brought good energy, scored straight away and gave us valuable experience. A lot of those players will need to make an impact from the bench this season.”

Cleverley also praised Baidoo, describing him as Argyle’s best player on the day. “As far as starts go, it was a real positive one for Michael,” he added.