SKIPPER Sean Kinsella scored twice from dead-ball kicks but could not prevent our youngsters from slipping to a decisive defeat in their opening Football League Youth Alliance fixture at Elburton.
The score-line reflected a catalogue of unnecessary defensive blunders by the Young Pilgrims' defenders.
"Every single one of their goals was down to an error," lamented head of youth coaching Mike Pejic, who was particularly disappointed by the lacklustre display, as it followed some encouraging performances in the team's pre-season friendlies against Academy opposition.
For lengthy periods of the game, Pej's protégées actually impressed with their passing moves, and they dominated possession, but their rearguard looked distinctly jittery when put under pressure by the Cherries' more direct tactics.
Indeed, the visitors took the lead in their very first attack - after nine minutes - when they pounced on a poor clearance by 'keeper Ollie Chenoweth and scored with a deflected 25-yard drive.
Argyle leveled in the 32nd minute when striker Liam Head was fouled and midfielder Kinsella produced a trademark 25-yard free kick that flew into the top corner of the visitors goal.
Six minutes later the Cherries re-took the lead from a free-kick inside the penalty area, when Chenoweth was penalized for holding onto the ball too long.
Then, on the stroke of half-time, a visiting striker was allowed a free-header from close range, so Argyle were 3-1 down at the interval.
Pej tried a diamond formation in the second half, and Head put a header over the bar when well-placed, and Kinsella's goal-bound 15-yard drive was deflected for a corner.
But it was the visitors who scored next when, in the 57th minute, their right winger was left unmarked and he gleefully capitalized, cutting in to fire a low shot into the far corner of the home goal.
More misery followed for the Young Pilgrims 17 minutes later, when a Chenoweth clearance was promptly lobbed back into goal via the crossbar.
A minute from time, Kinsella scored his second goal, this time from the penalty spot, after lively striker Matt Rickard had been fouled in the area, but the effort was too little too late for a disjointed Argyle Youth team, in which Pej thought only Ryan Leonard, Luke Young, Kinsella and Rickard had done themselves justice.
Argyle (4-4-1-1): 1 Ollie Chenoweth; 2 Ryan Leonard, 5 Curtis Nelson, 6 Jordan Trott, 3 Connor Clifford (18 Jordan Copp); 7 Jed Harper-Penman (14 Sam Sawyer, 45), 8 Luke Young, 4 Sean Kinsella, 11 Jake Baker; 10 Matt Rickard; 9 Liam Head. Subs (not used): 15 Chinua Troupe, 16 Lewis Coombes. 17 Ben Clarvis.
The Young Pilgrims do not have a game next weekend - their next fixture is in the Youth Alliance Cup, away at Swansea City at St. Helens on Saturday, September 5 (kick-off - 11am).
