Plymouth Argyle U18 v Swansea City U18

Several competitions are on the calendar for Argyle Under-18s, with the focus this week returning to the Professional Development League Cup.

A loss away from home to Cheltenham Town in the opening game of the group stages shocked both the players and staff. However, after a run of improved form, Head Coach Jamie Lowry believes a win against Swansea City on Saturday can put his side in good stead in the group.

“Preparations ahead of the game have been good,” Lowry told Argyle TV. “We’ve had two busy weeks of back-to-back midweek games, so the start of this week has been more relaxed, making sure everybody's fit, then we've got the work in the back end of the week. It might be a tough challenge, but one we're excited about.

“Getting a result out of the game is something we've spoken about already. That's really important. Swansea and Bristol City drew in the last game, so it's still quite an open group. If we win this game, we can still progress in the group. That’s what we're working towards.

“We had a good game at the end of last season against Swansea in this competition, so we must use that motivation where we didn't quite get across the line with a draw when we needed a win last season. Swansea are a difficult team, however. They always pass the ball well and have very technical players.”

With the competition pitting Argyle against different teams compared to the league and other cup campaigns, Lowry is excited for the challenge that awaits him and his side on the weekend.

He said: “It’s exciting for me personally in terms of the challenge, to come up against something a little bit different and a good technical team. They play differently from what we’ve come up against. Play through the midfielders a lot and bounce passes. Our possession must be right and getting our press going is important. Watching their games back and preparing has been a good challenge for me. I’m excited to go and try to put it into practice on Saturday.”

Argyle were forced into several changes in their previous game against Luton Town. Lowry provided an update on how the squad looks ahead of the fixture against the Swans.

“Toby Haley will probably be a bit longer term with a hamstring issue. He's hopefully going to have a scan soon to see the full extent. The rest of them were quite light knocks and niggles, so hopefully they'll be back and ready for the weekend.”

Argyle lost 3-2 to Swansea City on Saturday at Millennium Fields in the Under-18s Professional Development League Cup.

Goals from Billy Devlin and Joe Hatch were not enough to push the Greens over the line, with a last-minute free-kick sealing the three points for the visiting side.

The visiting side took the lead in the opening minutes when Morgan Bates headed home from a corner and, just after the 30-minute mark, the lead was doubled through a Ramon Rees-Siso penalty.

Hatch’s fine run of form continued when he drew one back for Argyle in the 79th minute with a header, with Devlin’s first-time volley minutes later sending the players into eruption as the game was levelled.

In the dying minutes of the game, Lewis Flowers brought down an onrushing Swansea player and was shown a red card. Joshua Pescatore scored the resulting free-kick and secured all three points for the travelling side.

Head Coach Jamie Lowry said: “It was a similar story, sadly, to how it has been for the last few games. Performance wise, we've been quite strong. We've been competitive and the boys have worked hard, but we just keep shooting ourselves in the foot at the end of the game with silly mistakes that cost us games.

“It’s important to put that right and to learn from it quickly, but generally I’m pleased with the performance. To come back from 2-0 down shows the character of the lads.

“Maybe we lack that little bit of focus and let games slip away from us. Overall, I’m quite pleased but we need to go and win games rather than losing or drawing games when it's tight at the end.”

Argyle are next in action, in the fourth round of the EFL Alliance Cup, at midday on Tuesday, 8 October. The Greens meet Newport County at Millennium Fields.

PLY Argyle

SWA Swansea