FA Youth Cup - Lowry's Reaction

Argyle Under-18s bowed out of the FA Youth Cup after a 2-1 defeat against Premier League opposition Crystal Palace on Thursday night.

Despite the Eagles having a Category One academy, Jamie Lowry’s young Greens put on a valiant display under the floodlights at Home Park. George King's early headed goal for Palace threatened to set the tone, but Argyle showed great resilience and got back into the game, scoring a deserved equaliser through Caleb Roberts just before half-time. 

The Pilgrims continued to impress following the interval, but a second King goal was enough for the Londoners to squeak through to the next round. 

It was a tough pill to swallow for Lowry and the team having banked a largely impressive performance.The manager said: “I think we could’ve done a little bit more to get over the line and get back into the game, we could’ve potentially gone on to win the game.

“I think we did enough in terms of being competitive and getting them on the back foot, but that’s the reason why they’re a Premier League club; in those little key moments, they’ve taken them, and we weren’t able to.

“I think we started the usual FA Youth Cup way: a bit nervous playing a Premier League side under the lights with the supporters here, that’s the kind of nerves they boys need to get used to.

“Once we did settle down, we realised that we are able to compete, we are able to get after them and that we do belong on the same football pitch as them, we gave them just as good as they gave us, so I was proud of that."

Over the 90 minutes, it was arguably Argyle who created the stronger chances in the game, with Dan Holman in the Argyle goal not called into action too often. 

​​​​​​​Lowry was proud of his side for digging deep and causing Palace issues, but recognises that the Greens were not clinical when they needed to be. 

"We always finish strong, we’ve had some really good ends to games this season," said Lowry. “It’s part of the group and their character to finish strong and never give up. They had a right go and threw the kitchen sink at it, but it wasn’t enough.

“We got punished and that’s how they won the game, apart from that Dan’s not made any outstanding saves to keep us in the game.

“At the same time, we didn’t fully work their keeper as well as we should’ve in terms of getting in some really good positions without forcing him to many saves.

“Upon reflection, we will probably start to feel a bit better but at the moment it’s still a bit raw.

“It’s for the boys, in terms of their learning and development, how they take it on to the game next week.

“We’ve still got two games before Christmas, so we need to pick ourselves back up and go again.”

The Under-18s will have the chance to book their place in the area final of the Youth Alliance Cup when they face Sutton United a week Saturday, 16 December.