Plymouth Argyle head coach Tom Cleverley says he was impressed by Julio Pleguezuelo’s return from injury on Tuesday night.
The 28-year-old defender played his first competitive game since the end of April in the 1-0 Vertu Trophy win at Leyton Orient, after recovering from knee surgery.
“I thought he was excellent tonight, he looked really assured, he played some really nice balls in the channel,” Cleverley told BBC Radio Devon.
“He did all his defensive work professionally, dominated aerially and he looked really assured at this level.”
The Spaniard was taken off at half-time as Argyle progressed to the last 16 thanks to Lorent Tolaj’s stoppage-time goal.
“Forty-five minutes was his plan and it’s a really good step in the right direction to getting Pleggy back to where we want him to be and he’ll be a key member of the squad in the coming weeks,” said Cleverley.
“He’s really kicked on the last week in training where I’ve seen a level of intensity that catches the eye and something that we’ve been missing.
“He carried that through tonight. He was really calm, assured, took it in his stride and he’s only going to get better from tonight.”
