Well as we enter 2014 what's a better way to start a new year and the second half of the season with a Devon derby at home.

After torrential rain the last week it was no surprise that no less then four league two games were called off in the morning.

Bristol Rovers v Cheltenham , Exeter v Wycombe , Newport v Oxford and Northampton v Chesterfield all becoming victims of the stormy conditions making pitches water logged and unplayable. 

No such problem at Home Park however after ground staff played their part making sure the weather didnt delay our progress.

After picking up a point at Kingsmeadow a few days ago in a very disjointed display i was expecting John Sheridan to make a couple if not more changes just to freshen it up so to my surprise the team sheet remained unchanged.

With a flat 4-4-2 and and a decent new years day crowd of just over 10'000 we were underway.

Game started a bit scrappy but soon we were clipping the ball around a struggling Torquay side who seemed a team with shackles on and nerves running into their legs similar to how we seemed whilst in the relegation zone early on in the season.

Weather seemed to ease off a bit and the surface at home park seemed to help Argyle with so nice football on the deck with the ball get played along a zippy surface with some good passing bu unable to create that killer pass.

This seemed much of the story in the first 30 or so minutes until the first major incident after a long diagonal from Gurrieri into the Torquay half for Lavery to just beat a foot race with the gulls keeper Poke who poleaxed him in the process from a promising position. After the shouts of off from the livid crowd the ref correctly brandishes a yellow for Poke which seemed the correct decision as Lavery was never really in position of scoring as he had just clipped it over and out of play ahead of the rushing keeper.

Nothing came of the resulting free kick and both sides huffed and puffed along to half time without much incident.

After the interval there was only going to be one winner on the day as Argyle really showed some classy well drilled football. Especially using the width of Ben Purrington at left back on only his 3rd appearance and Home Park debut over lapping the impressive Allesandra creating plenty of space for the strikers. 

The break through came after some great pass and moving football which saw Reid holding the ball up really well and eventually releasing Lavery to fire past he hapless Poke at his near post.

After going one up there was a bit of a response from the gulls but we really seemed to switch on after taking the lead with some great hold up play from Reid several times nearly playing others in and a few half chances from distance from Gurrieri, Alessandra and Blizzard.

Eventually with 5 minutes to go the quality eventually payed off with some good passing from Blizzard and Gurrieri captain Hourihane was released down the left and a beautiful left foot cross to the on rushing Alessandra who just needed to chest it past poke from 3-4 yards out leaving the result in no doubt.

Two up and only a few minutes to go the rest was a formality with Argyle holding the ball up in the corners for a valuable 3 points and 10 points from a possible 12 over Christmas and New Year.

Next up will be Port Vale away for the 3rd round of the FA cup.

Semper Fidelis