Plymouth Argyle Defender Alex Hartridge Faces Month Out Injured

Plymouth Argyle have been dealt a significant early-season blow with defender Alex Hartridge facing up to a month on the sidelines after damaging ankle ligaments.

The 27-year-old, a free-transfer arrival in the summer, suffered the injury late on in Saturday’s dramatic 3-2 win at Doncaster Rovers, having only just come off the bench. What looked like a routine substitution has turned into a spell in the treatment room for a player who had quickly become a fixture in Tom Cleverley’s plans.

Hartridge had featured in every Argyle game this season, underlining his importance in a reshaped back line, and marked his debut with a goal in the Carabao Cup against former club Exeter City. That early momentum has now been abruptly checked.

He is the latest name on an increasingly busy injury list. Michael Baidoo is already ruled out until November with a hamstring problem, while Malachi Boateng and Jack MacKenzie are also unavailable. For a squad trying to build rhythm under a new head coach, four absentees in key areas is an unwelcome theme.

“It’s another unfortunate one,” Cleverley told BBC South West, his frustration clear but measured. “It’s one of those things, it happens in football. We’ve got four boys out at the minute, Macca is one we’ve carried from last year and two from innocuous challenges with Alex and Malachi.”

The head coach was quick to defend his staff and the club’s workload planning, stressing that most of the issues have come from contact rather than conditioning.

“They’re not load management, they’re not staffing problems, they’re just part and parcel of a contact sport,” he said. “Michael Baidoo’s the one that we can review and analyse how we can manage better, or the player can manage better, but the injury numbers have been very pleasing and three out of the four we have got out have been either carried over from last season or contact knocks.”

Argyle have started the season with energy and ambition. Now they will have to show something different: resilience without a defender who had quickly become central to their plans.