Middlesbrough deal and addressing absentees Plymouth Argyle’s dream end to the transfer window
Matt Crooks and Jamie Paterson start for Middlesbrough at Home Park as Neil Warnock’s side take on Plymouth Argyle in their final friendly of their south west training camp.
Midfielder Crooks transfered from Rotherham United earlier today, and with the 27-year-old already with the squad in Devon and Cornwall he was able to be thrown straight into the Boro side.
rooks, meanwhile, will partner Sam Morsy in the midfield and is expected to take up the same kind of role that Lewis Wing played at Tavistock as an advanced midfielder, with Morsy anchoring the midfield alone.
Warnock is keen to test his side in that system against a better side who should attack them more than the non-leaguers did on Wednesday to see if they can cope with throwing the extra man forward.
Meanwhile, Jonny Howson returned to the bench after missing the previous two south west friendlies with a bug. But Wing does not make the bench having been seen ahead of the game wearing a protecting boot on his right foot.
Starting XI: Lumley, Dijksteel, McNair, Hall, Fry, Tav, Morsy, Crooks, Paterson, Watmore Ikpeazu
Subs: Brynn, Spence, Peltier, Robinson, Hackney, Malley, Howson, Jones, Sivi, AkpomJamie Paterson, meanwhile, has been on trial with Boro all week down here in the south west but rolled his ankle on Monday before the first friendly and was unable to take part at Tavistock either.
But having trained yesterday, he was able to start at Home Park where he will look to impress and earn a contract.
Boro will be lining up in a three-man defence once again, with Anfernee Dijksteel in at right wing-back and Marcus Tavernier starting left wing-back with Hayden Coulson not named in the squad at all.
Paterson will occupy the free role that Tavernier played at Tavistock behind Duncan Watmore and Uche Ikpeazu who looked to complement each other in that big win on Wednesday.
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