Plymouth Argyle are confident their pre-season friendly against Bristol City next month will go ahead after vandals broke into Home Park and drove a tractor across the pitch as the surface is being renovated ahead of the 2022/23 campaign.
A police investigation has been launched following the incident on Saturday night as vandals broke into the stadium and stole a tractor from a storage garage on-site. It caused "significant damage", potentially disrupting Plymouth's summer plans and leaving some doubt over whether their games against City on July 16, and Swansea four days earlier, could go ahead.
But League One Plymouth insist the damage has only set back their renovation works by a week and are confident that by the time the Robins travel to Devon in mid-July, the playing surface will be match-ready. A full re-seeding of the pitch was carried out on Monday with contractors Inscapes travelling to Plymouth to help with the repair work.
"The grounds team and renovation partners set to work immediately on repairing the damage following Saturday night's break in," a club spokesperson told Plymouth Live.
"Through immediate response and paying for some additional contractor support, the setback to the timetable has been limited to one week, and so this is unlikely to necessitate a change in the club's pre-season schedule.
"Should the situation change, the club will promptly update supporters and stakeholders as a mater of course."
Plymouth is one of only two friendlies confirmed so far with City also due to play Yate Town on August 2, although that match is after the Championship campaign starts so is likely to be an Under-23s fixture.
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