LOCAL bragging rights were shared yesterday afternoon when an inexperienced Young Pilgrims robbed their Devon rivals of their 100 per cent record in the Football League Youth Alliance Cup first round group games by forcing a goal-less draw at Elburton.
Head of youth coaching Mike Pejic was deprived of the services of injured regulars Luke Young, Matt Rickard, Curtis Nelson and Ben Clarvis plus Raivo Varazinskis (on international duty with Latvia), and he was forced to involve Jake Baker, Lewis Coombes, Sam Sawyer and Connor Clifford even though they were still recovering from a viral infection.
His starting line-up, therefore, included four schoolboys - full backs Jack Stephens and Jordan Pearce making their debuts, plus midfielders Jordan Copp and Dan Hart for only their second and third starts respectively - and for the second half he brought on a fifth schoolboy, Jed Harper-Penman, for the clearly under-the-weather Baker.
"I was pleased with how well the young lads did," said an unusually content Pej.
The confident Grecians, fresh from their impressive 3-0 win at Swansea City last Saturday, had the better of the first half, and home 'keeper Ollie Chenoweth made a particularly fine save with his legs when Exeter striker Kyle Bassett broke through for a one-on-one just before the interval.
It was just about the only clear-cut scoring opportunity of the first half, as the two teams cancelled each other out, despite their contrasting styles - City preferring to play long balls and Argyle opting for their normal, more intricate, short-passing approach play.
The Greens had much more of the ball in the second half, and skipper Sean Kinsella, playing in the hole behind striker Liam Head, twice went close to scoring from openings set up by Harper-Penman.
In the 66th minute, Kinsella put a cross from the right winger over the bar, and two minutes later he sent a fierce angled 15-yard drive thudding against the upright after the pair had successfully worked a short corner routine.
Argyle (4-4-2): 1 Ollie Chenoweth; 2 Jack Stephens, 6. Ryan Leonard, 5 Jordan Trottt, 3 Jordan Pearce; 7 Lewis Coombes, 4 Sean Kinsella, 8 Dan Hart, 9 Liam Head, 10 Jordan Copp, 11 Jake Baker (Harper-Penman, 45). Subs. (not used): Jared Sims, Sam Sawyer, Connor Clifford.
The Grecians currently head the group with 10 points from four games, followed by Yeovil Town on six points from three games, Bristol Rovers on four points from four games, Torquay United on three points from four games and Argyle on two points from three games.
The top three teams from the group qualify for round two so our youngsters probably need to win both their remaining two games - on Saturday, when they play our other Devon rivals, Torquay United, at Newton Abbot Racecourse, kick-off 11am, and their re-arranged fixture at Yeovil Town, the date for which has still to be fixed.
Meanwhile, yesterday Raivo Varazinskis played in goal for Latvia in their 1-0 defeat at the hands of the Republic of Ireland in their UEFA U17 Championship qualifying tournament in Bulgaria. He was an unused substitute in their opening 2-0 defeat by Sweden on Sunday. Latvia play their final game against host nation Bulgaria on Friday.
Our Centre of Excellence schoolboys have a full programme of games against Yeovil Town this weekend. On Saturday the under-16's met the Glovers at Elburton Villa's Haye Road ground, then on Sunday it's the turn of the under-14's host the Glovers at Haye Road, and the under-12's and under-11's do likewise at Eggbuckland Community College, while the under 15's, under-13's, under-10's and under-9's travel to play at Sherborne School (all games kick-off at 11am).
