Under-18s Report | Argyle 1 Stevenage 0

Argyle’s Under-18s secured their first win in Merit League One as they beat Stevenage on Thursday morning.

Tegan Finn scored the game’s only goal when, in the 75th minute, he finished coolly past Max Woodford from close range.

“They boys were really good today,” said Under-18s manager Jamie Lowry. “I had that feeling at the start of the game, and during the game, that they were up for it. After the game it’s always nice to have that feeling of three points.

“After the last couple of weeks where we have not started well, it was important to start on the front foot.

“The biggest message was defensively, as a team, to keep working hard, which they did outstandingly all game. We know the ability of the attacking players that we have, that we will create something and score a goal.

“I was really pleased with the defence and Jack [Flower], who made his debut for the Under-18s in goal.

“Collectively, from the first minute to the last, they worked really hard, dug in for each other and got back and doubled up; all the nitty-gritty things you need to do to keep a clean sheet.”

Lowry made three changes to the side that fell to defeat against Leyton Orient the previous  Saturday.

Jack Flower, Lewis Thomas, and Fletcher Poole all made their first start with the Under-18s this season. 

Dan Holman, Caleb Roberts, and Henry Donovan all made way, none of them featuring on the Pilgrims bench either.

On the three debutants, Lowry said: “I was really pleased. I'm delighted with Jack to have a clean sheet on his debut. He made some really good saves and distributed the ball well with his feet.

“For Lewis and Fletch, that’s the first time they have really played 18s football, so I was really delighted for them to make their debuts and put in a really pleasing performance.”

The young Greens started this game much more positively than they had done in weeks prior, debutants Poole and Thomas both having chances within the opening ten minutes to give Argyle the lead.

The best chance the Greens crated in the first-half fell to Thomas on 12 minutes. Joe Hatch caused mayhem in the Stevenage box, forcing Takenda Mutanga to scuff his attempted clearance. The ball fell kindly, just ahead of Thomas, and with perhaps too much time to think about what he was going to do, he hammered the ball over the crossbar from the edge of the six-yard box.

Stevenage reacted to the early Argyle pressure and stepped it up themselves, Aymie O’Keefe and Ryan Doherty both having chances but were unable to call Flower into action.

Another chance went begging for Argyle when Lewis Colwell took aim from range and lashed a vicious volley goalward, forcing a strong save from Woodford. Josh Bernard was on the scene to attempt to force home the rebound, but the Stevenage stopper did excellently to make it back to his feet and save Bernard’s effort.

Half-time arrived, and Argyle will have been slightly disappointed that they were not ahead after playing some good football in spells and having had the better of the chances so far in the game.

Having looked threatening on the break all game, it was no surprise that Argyle’s goal came from a counter-attack.

Thomas progressed the ball up the pitch before threading a pass between centre-back and full-back for Finn to run on to.

It was trademark from Finn who beat his man, darted into the box, and curled the ball around the outstretched keeper and into the bottom-left corner.

Lowry discussed Finn’s importance in the team: “He’s our Morgan Whittaker, if you want to put it like that, our match-winner.

“He’s a really exciting prospect who has been around the 18s all season, we know he can produce that little moment out of nothing.”

The final 15 minutes of the game saw a really resilient defensive performance from the young Pilgrims as they would go on to win the game and secure a clean-sheet.

With the games coming thick and fast, Lowry’s side are back in action against Luton Town on Tuesday.

Lowry sees this game as an opportunity to build momentum: “It’s an opportunity to build on today’s performance.

“They are a strong side,  winning their area league so it should be a really good chance to go up there and compete.

“We spoke about today not being a one-off and building some consistency by putting together back-to-back wins and a run with lots of games coming up.”

Argyle: Jack Flower, Lewis Colwell ©, Joel Sullivan, Cole Fisher, Jack Matthews, Cole Gibbings, Josh Bernard, Lewis Thomas, Joe Hatch, Tegan Finn, Fletcher Poole. Substitutes not used: Jensen Ireland, Sam Lord, Kian Burch.