Under-18s Report: Argyle 2-3 Swansea City

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.