Paul Sturrock's bemoans Plymouth's lack of WAG culture as Pilgrims keep Crystal Palace at bay

Paul Sturrock joked that he may have to start taking out adverts in his local newspaper's lonely hearts column to attract players to Plymouth Argyle soon.

The Plymouth boss revealed he has found it difficult to sign players this summer because the WAGS refuse to move so far away from their families and set up home in Devon.

Indeed, it cannot be easy persuading the WAGS to let their other halves sign for a club who can now claim to have the longest away journey in the Football League.

The Pilgrims' fuel-sapping 820-mile trip to Newcastle United next month officially counts as the furthest distance for a club to make in the Football League.

When asked how difficult it was to attract players to move to Plymouth following Saturday's opening draw at Crystal Palace, the Scot said:  "We have more problems with the wives than anything else.

"We can get the players but we can't convince the wives. They don't want to be so far away from their families but I guess that's something we've got to live with."

However, Sturrock says he is still hoping to bring in a couple more new faces before the transfer window slams shut at the end of the month – and it could delight the single women of Plymouth.

He said:  "We try to bring them down on a nice sunny day and drive them around the place and show them where we might get them houses. So far that seems to have worked. Once we get them down there they won't want to go because there's so much to do.

"We will sign more players but they may have to be single and young! But at least the single women in Plymouth will be delighted."

Sturrock may have not had much luck in the transfer market this summer but Plymouth got off to the perfect start at Selhurst Park. Hungarian international Krisztian Timar struck after just five minutes when he smashed home Luke Somerfield's corner.

Palace then suffered a major blow when debutant Stern John dislocated his elbow following an aerial challenge with Pilgrims goalkeeper Romain Larrieu. However, John's replacement Alan Lee headed home in the 63rd minute after a fine cross from Victor Moses, who has been linked with a £3million move to Wigan.

Freddie Sears, on loan from West Ham United, nearly stole it for Palace at the end but his shot was kept out by Larrieu.

The 19-year-old had a frustrating time under Hammer boss Gianfranco Zola at Upton Park last season and admitted Palace boss Neil Warnock was the main reason why he rejected loan moves elsewhere.

The forward said: "Last season was very frustrating for me because I was just coming on for 10 minutes at the end but this season it will be good for me at Palace because I'll be the main threat in the team.

"Franco trains with us and is probably the best player at West Ham. Neil is a totally different character. He knows what he wants and gets his point across more.

"When I came here and spoke to Neil, he said 'you're going to play' and obviously I wanted to go to a team where I knew I was going to play.

"I wanted to go out last season but because we didn't have many players, Franco wanted me to come off the bench but at the end of the season he said I'll let you go out on loan and have a crack at it."