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Two of League One’s unbeaten sides go head-to-head on Saturday at the KCOM Stadium as newly promoted Plymouth Argyle make the mammoth 680-mile round journey to face recently relegated Hull City.
Hull could not have wished for a much better start to the campaign, having won three out of three so far, scoring five and not conceding to this point.
Argyle, on the other hand, won on the opening day against Blackpool, but have drawn against AFC Wimbledon and Shrewsbury since then, scoring six and conceding five in the process.
For Hull this will be their third match against a newly promoted side, and it is only the fourth game of the season. After beating Steve Evans’ Gillingham side on the opening day, Hull hosted Crewe before a trip to Northampton last weekend.
Crewe put up a tough test for the Humberside club, but Northampton were ‘shown the harsh reality of League One’.
Speaking ahead of the game, Grant McCann said: “They know how to win, they’re another promoted team. I think we’ve had quite a tough start.”
“We’re facing teams who know how to win, if you think about Gillingham, they know how to win at home. Since we beat them in the first game they’ve gone on and beaten Wigan and Blackpool.
“Then you look at the three promoted teams that we’re coming up against, Crewe it was a tough game at home. Northampton another tough game away. And now we’ve got another tough game, and another team that’s used to winning, so we’ve got to be mindful of that.”
Argyle were left with ‘a lot to learn’ defensively after their previous away fixture, a 4-4 draw at Wimbledon, but last weekend Argyle’s defence were solid against a Shrewsbury side that managed just two shots on target all game.
Speaking in Thursday’s press conference, Argyle manager Ryan Lowe said: “It’s going to be a tough ask, probably the biggest test so far for us. Grant McCann’s a fantastic young manager, he does it the right way. It’s nice to see he’s been given the opportunity to stay as the manager and to try and get them back up, cause I think he deserves that.”
“We’re going there full of confidence, they’re high on confidence – I don’t think they’ve conceded a goal, they’re on nine points…we could be on nine or seven, I’ve said that before, so we’re in good form ourselves.
“We’re going there to go toe-to-toe, we’ll respect them, we certainly won’t fear them, but it is going to be a big test also, probably the biggest test we’ve faced this season so far.”
It’s been 13 years and two months since the sides last met in Hull, with Argyle running out 3-2 winners on that day after goals from David Norris, Rory Fallon and Sylvan Ebanks-Blake, with Dean Windass and Dean Marney scoring for the hosts.
The two sides have had very different fortunes since that match on the opening day of the 2007/08 Championship season. Hull City have had spells in the Premier League and have reached an FA Cup final, whereas Argyle dropped down to League Two, where they have spent most of the time since.
Gary Sawyer started for Argyle on that day 13 years ago but will miss out this weekend as he is out for two months with an injury picked up against Norwich City U21s. Argyle goalkeeper Luke McCormick was an unused substitute that day and will also miss out, having not yet returned from his shoulder injury.
There is positive news on the injury and fitness front for Argyle though, with Luke Jephcott and Ben Reeves back in contention having joined in with first team training this week, as well as Will Aimson who has returned from self-isolation.
Jerome Opoku could make his debut for Argyle after joining from Fulham last Friday, the 21-year old sat out Argyle’s 1-1 draw with Shrewsbury last weekend after joining up with the team late in the week.
Hull, meanwhile, could welcome back Richie Smallwood, Mallik Wilks, and Tom Eaves, while new signing Regan Slater could make his debut.
