Andre Gray out to prove he can make a difference for Plymouth Argyle

Andre Gray believes he can still perform to a high level in the Championship at the age of 33 and wants to prove it with Plymouth Argyle.

The striker joined Wayne Rooney's squad as a free agent at the start of October after being without a club since leaving Saudi Pro League side Al Riyadh in the summer, and has gone on to make one start and three substitute appearances. He also scored one of the goals when the Pilgrims fought back from 3-0 down to draw 3-3 with Preston North End at Home Park.

Gray has a short-term contract with Argyle until January so he is hoping for more opportunities between now and then to show what he is capable of, but it was always going to be a challenge for him to get up to speed after his time away from full-time football.

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He said: "I'm still getting there I suppose. Obviously, I have only started one game. I think it's hard to judge. I feel like I have come off the bench and done well but it's completely different to starting a game.

"I need to try to get in the team, stay in the team. I just need to find my rhythm. I feel like I'm finding it in training but it's completely different in a match setting.

"It took a bit of time. I think we always knew that was going to happen from not having a pre-season and coming in so late. There were little aches and pains here and there, with the body getting used to it as well. I just want to get my rhythm because I know I have still got it and I know I can provide a lot."

Although Gray went some time without being at a club after leaving Al Riyadh he was determined to be ready for when the right opportunity arose for him, and it was Argyle who provided that for him.

Gray said: "It was weird. I had options. It wasn't a case of having absolutely nothing but you get these feelings in life and you know when something sits right with you and when you don't.

"It was frustrating but I feel like I'm a tough boy. I kept my head down and just trained and trained, waiting for an opportunity and this one came. I think if I didn't stay fit, if I didn't train the way I did, I wouldn't have been able to come here and gel, and integrate so quickly, because I feel like I have.

"I think I came here in good shape and wasn't as far off as I think a lot of people would have thought. I trained individually with a coach but it's a mental battle to get up every day and still want to do that when you don't have to because you don't know what's going to happen. I had the determination to just keep going. It was a long three months but I stuck to it and it paid off.

On what appealed to him about Argyle, Gray added: "I think it was the club in itself, obviously the manager and back to playing Championship football. It's a very high level, we all know that. Everything happens for a reason and it came at the right time and I felt I could bring something to the club, and obviously the staff did too. It just fitted at the time."

Gray described it as 'fantastic' to have the chance to work with and learn from Rooney. "He's an icon in this country, arguably in my opinion the best to ever come out of this country," he said. "So it's obviously an honour and you can't not learn from him but, at the end of the day, us as players are not on his level, that's why we are where we are in the Championship and he was where he was.

"I think he understands that. I have heard other managers who were players have struggled to do that, but he doesn't. He knows what he's doing and the players really like him."

Argyle return to Championship action ahead the third international break of the season when they take on sixthplaced Watford, one of Gray's former clubs, at Home Park tomorrow night.

Gray joined Watford for an undisclosed club record transfer fee in 2017 and went on to score 21 goals from 59 starts and 66 substitute appearances over the next five years. "It was a bit mixed," said the Jamaica international. I didn't have the best time there. It's football, I say it to the young boys, it's important with decisions in your career where you go and for me it didn't suit me.

"The way I wanted to play, it just didn't really work. It's nothing personal. I didn't reach the heights that was expected of me and it was very stop-start with a lot of different managers. It was hard to ever get a rhythm. Look, it is what it is. I learned a lot from the experience and life goes on."

While Argyle's struggles in away games this season have been well-documented, they have an excellent record at Home Park, picking up 14 points from seven games, and Gray does not believe that has happened by chance.

Gray said: "I think the results speak for themselves; the last minute goals, the comeback against Preston. I don't think you do that unless you are at home with a fantastic crowd behind you and I think that has shown."

As for his contract status with Argyle, Gray added: "I'm happy here, I obviously want to just get back to playing. We have a big schedule now so there is going to be a lot more opportunities and it's going to be down to me to perform, score goals and do as well as I can. It's down to the club then."

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