MANAGER Paul Sturrock knows Plymouth Argyle will not find it easy when they travel to Gillingham in the first round of the 2009/10 Carling Cup.

Gillingham were promoted from League Two last season, after beating Shrewsbury Town 1-0 in the play-off final at Wembley.

The tie will be played on the week commencing Monday, August 10, and leaves Argyle facing the prospect of a 506-mile round trip to Kent.

It will be the Pilgrims' second game of the new season, as they kick-off their Championship campaign on Saturday, August 8.

Argyle were one of 35 seeded teams in the regionalised Carling Cup first round draw.

Sturrock told Herald Sport: "It's disappointing the distance we have got to travel. It's one of the furthest away we could have got.

"But we will have to be professional in our approach and go there and get a result.

"I would like to have a good cup run. We haven't had one for quite some time and it would benefit the club's finances."

He added: "It would have been nice to have had a home tie, but there you go. That's football."

Argyle have not played Gillingham in the League Cup before under any of the competition's previous sponsorship titles.

Their last visit to the Priestfield Stadium was for a Championship fixture in January 2005, when they lost 1-0.

Argyle defender Paul Connolly was sent-off in the closing stages of the game for a wild tackle on striker Darren Byfield.

The Pilgrims have not won on any of their last 10 visits to Gillingham, both in the league and the FA Cup.

They have drawn two and lost eight of those matches.

Their last victory at the Priestfield Stadium was in February 1981, when John Sims scored the decisive goal in a 1-0 league triumph.

Sturrock said: "I'm told we haven't won there in 28 years but records like that are there to be broken.

"It will be a difficult game for us, though, because Gillingham were promoted last season and will still be on a high when we play them."

Argyle goalkeeper Romain Larrieu had a three-month loan spell with Gillingham during the 2006/07 season.

The French shot-stopper made 14 appearances for the Gills while Kelvin Jack was ruled out by injury.

Argyle have only reached the second round of the League Cup in two of the past eight seasons.

The last time was in 2007/08, when they overcame Wycombe Wanderers 2-1 at Home Park.

The Pilgrims were eventually beaten 1-0 away to Premier League club West Ham United in round three.

Argyle suffered an embarrassing 2-0 defeat at Luton Town in the first round of the competition last season.

Gillingham have not progressed past round one of the Carling Cup since 2005, when they won 1-0 at home to Oxford United.

The Kent club have twice reached as far as the fourth round of the competition.

The last time was in 1996/97, when former Pilgrims' boss Tony Pulis was their manager and they lost 1-0 away to Ipswich Town.

Gillingham were relegated from the Championship in 2004/05, and three years later they ended up in League Two.

But they finished fifth in the table last term, and beat Rochdale in the play-off semi-finals before getting the better of Shrewsbury at Wembley.

Highly-rated striker Simeon Jackson scored the all-important goal in the 90th minute.

Meanwhile, Barnet manager Ian Hendon has admitted he hopes to sign Argyle winger Yannick Bolasie again this summer.

Bolasie, 20, impressed during a loan spell with the League Two club at the end of last season.

Hendon said: "If anything can be done to bring Yannick back to the club then I would love to do so because he played an integral part in getting us out of trouble last year," he said.

Argyle are set to miss out on the signing of Kyel Reid, who has been released by Premier League club West Ham United.

The 21-year-old, who visited Home Park for talks last Wednesday, is being tipped for a move to Sheffield United.

Greek Super League club Iraklis are showing interest in signing former Argyle striker Emile Mpenza, who will be a free agent as from July 1.

Mpenza signed a lucrative one-year contract with the Pilgrims last September but was plagued by injuries and fitness problems during his time at Home Park.

The former Belgium international, 31 next month, played only nine times for Argyle, which included three starts, and he scored two goals.

Mpenza almost signed for another Greek Super League club, Skoda Xanthi, before his move to Argyle.