Lowry previews Youth Alliance Cup quarter-final

Argyle Under-18s can secure a place in the semi-final of the Youth Alliance Cup on Friday, but have to overcome a strong Oxford United side away from home to do so.

The Greens’ success in the group stages, and 7-1 domination of Newport County in the previous round, sets up a tie against a side Argyle fell to in league action just a few weeks ago.

Despite the result not going in Argyle’s favour last time out, the squad and staff are still confident and believe they can continue progressing through multiple competitions.

Head Coach Jamie Lowry wants his side to use the last result as motivation when facing the U’s on Friday in Oxfordshire but is also aware of the tough test that awaits.

“It’s something the boys have spoken about after our previous game against Oxford where they beat us 3-1,” Lowry told Argyle TV. “They're a very good side, well organised, have good structure, try and pass the ball and play the right way, so from my point of view, it's somewhere I want the boys to go back and right the wrongs from the last result there.

“The boys are excited about it. We had a really good week of training and will give it our all like we try and do every game.

“Our performance last time wasn't bad at all. We played reasonably well in the first half and had a couple of really good chances to start with. If we'd taken one of them, it could have been a different story. However, overall, we were below the levels we've set ourselves this year.

“With it being a cup competition, it makes the game do-or-die on the day and we must get the win. It’s something the boys have to take credit for this season with where they’ve got so far. They’re progressing well in cup games and it's another opportunity for us to put in a decent performance.

“They’ve been outstanding and had an excellent season so far. Something we've spoken about a lot is minor disappointment and managing setbacks. It was a disappointing performance and result at Swindon last week but now having a good week leading up to the Oxford game is important. We addressed it, spoke about it on Monday that we need to be bang on it in training and have done that so far this week.”

With the league tie against Oxford being fresh in the minds of all, it hands Lowry and the staff a tough predicament with how to prepare for the game. Despite the hosts now knowing what to expect from Argyle, he believes that the preparation, gameplan and prior knowledge can now play into the Greens’ favour.

He said: “We know how they play, and I think they’ve been unbeaten since the turn of the year, so they're on a really good run of form and will have high confidence. They've got some good players like I said before, but it's about us. It's about bouncing back from our performance against Swindon. The levels were nowhere near good enough from what we've set ourselves both in and out of possession.

“We need to go and compete, and then be brave on the ball. I think that's something that's going to be really important. Then we need to be brave when passing and taking the ball, play forwards when we can and then, probably what we lacked a little bit in our last performance against them, have quality in the final third.

“We need to punish them when we do create chances, go and score goals and be ruthless.”