Mumba's 150th appearance gives 'a good feeling'

Bali Mumba says being a first team regular was always his goal, as he prepares to make his 150th appearance for Plymouth Argyle.

The 23-year-old is in his fourth season at Home Park, having joined permanently for a then-club record fee of £1m in 2023 after spending the previous season on loan from Norwich City.

On realising he is about to reach the milestone of 150 appearances, Mumba told BBC Radio Devon: "That's big. As a kid, you want to be a professional footballer and you want to cement your place in the team - that's always been my goal.

"I always thought I want to be known as a first-team player and to know that I've done 149 [appearances] for one club so far and coming up to 150 is a good feeling."

Mumba helped Argyle win League One in his first season at the club, as well as reach the EFL Trophy final, and scored in the Pilgrims' first game back in the Championship in August 2023.

"Getting promoted from League One, that's one of the highlights. It's a good record to have [for] your career and it's big for the club, and for the fans and you saw how much it meant to everyone," he added.

Mumba has found the net nine times during his career, but says his favourite goal was scoring the equaliser as Argyle went on to beat Devon rivals Exeter City 4-2 in October 2022.

"It was my first professional derby game that I've been involved in," he said.

"To experience the atmosphere - because a derby game's a derby game, it doesn't matter what team it is, it's a derby for a reason - and to get that goal there, that's one way to remember my first ever derby game."

Mumba also condemned the recent racist abuse of team-mate Aribim Pepple following his missed penalty in the Vertu Trophy win over Cheltenham Town, saying more needs to be done to eradicate racism in football.

"It's sad that people can say it's normalised in football like it happens quite often," said Mumba.

"Obviously it's not acceptable - it might be a thing of not enough education. [It should be] put on these people to understand what racism is and what it does to people.

"We're all letting [Pepple] know he's not in this alone and we don't stand for such things."

Listen to the full interview with Mumba and more Plymouth Argyle on Sounds.