Under-18s Report | Argyle 3-1 Exeter City
Argyle Under-18s’ unbeaten EFL South Youth Alliance League run was extended to three games on Saturday when they beat Exeter City 3-1 at Millennium Fields.
Goals from Seb Campbell, Harley Sneap and Kian Burch handed the Greens three points, continuing their winning streak in Devon Derby games this season.
Despite dominating the ball and creating multiple chances throughout the first half an hour, Argyle struggled to convert any opportunities into goals. The best chance for Jamie Lowry’s side came in the fifth minute when Fletcher Poole cut onto his favoured right foot and tried to curl an effort into the bottom corner, but the winger’s shot bounced wide of the post and out for a goal-kick.
Exeter took the lead in the 31st minute through Theo Cutler. The Grecians’ number nine latched onto a ball through the Argyle defensive line, rounded Dan Holman and passed into an open goal.
However, the lead did not last long. Campbell pounced on an error at the back from the visitors and brought the game level, continuing his scoring run against the Greens’ Devon rivals.
After the break, Argyle continued to push forward, causing problems for Exeter all over the pitch and creating shooting opportunities in front of goal. The visitors’ goalkeeper Dylan Shanahan was forced into multiple saves, keeping the game level until the 68th minute.
Harley Sneap picked up the ball outside the box and fired a long-range effort towards goal, lobbing Shanahan and handing Argyle the lead for the first time in the game.
In a similar fashion to the Youth Alliance Cup tie earlier in the season, the Greens scored a third in the final minutes to secure victory. Burch found himself in the right place at the right time, tapping home Poole’s cross, before a bundle of Argyle celebrations ensued in front of Exeter’s goal.
Head Coach Lowry said: “It was another strong performance from the lads. We were probably a little off in how I wanted to be on the press, so we spoke about being more aggressive at half-time, making it more difficult to play through and get through our press - we did that in the second half.
“Overall, I’m delighted with the performance. We spoke about building the momentum in recent weeks, and now we’ve gone three games unbeaten in the league, so it's something we just need to continue to do moving forward. We’ve got two games next week and want to get as many points as possible from those games.”
The Under-18s are next in action on Wednesday, as they travel to Stevenage.
Argyle: 40 Dan Holman, 2 Lewis Flowers, 3 Harry Shield, 4 Harley Sneap, 5 Jensen Ireland, 6 Joel Sullivan (capt), 7 Fletcher Poole, 8 Sam Lord, 9 Kian Burch, 10 Seb Campbell 15 Billy Devlin, 85), 11 Tegan Finn. Substitutes: 12 Joe Mwaro, 14 Sam Hayman, 16 Frankie Maund, 23 Jack Flower (gk).
Goals: Campbell 33, Sneap 68, Burch 89
Booked: Poole 87
