Friendships on hold as Argyle meet up with Azaz once again

DEFENDER Brendan Galloway will put aside his friendship with Finn Azaz for 90 minutes when Plymouth Argyle travel to play Middlesbrough today.

- CHRIS ERRINGTON

The pair were team-mates at Home Park during Azaz's 18-month stint on loan to the Pilgrims from Aston Villa before the outstanding form of the midfielder in the Championship this season led to the Premier League club selling him to Middlesbrough for £2.5 million at the start of January.

Galloway described Azaz as 'a very good player and an amazing person' but his aim is for Argyle to go to Teesside and get a good result against Michael Carrick's Boro, who won 2-1 away to table-topping Leicester City last time out.

Azaz had scored seven goals for Argyle and provided the assists for five others this season before he was recalled from his loan by Villa to be transferred to Middlesbrough.

Galloway said: "I'm looking forward to seeing him. He's a very good player and an amazing person. We have just got to go there and try to be aggressive as we can.

"We know what he's about and the main job is to shut him down. He's a good friend but just be focused on our team first and go in there and get three points." It only emerged after Azaz left Argyle that he had been a volunteer for Plymouth's St Luke's Hospice every Wednesday for five months.