Swindon Town u-18s 2 Argyle 3

Swindon Town u-18s 2 Argyle 3

Argyle's youngsters pulled off one of their results of the season with their victory at to high-flying Swindon despite missing several of the squad to injury.

The Robins were aware that victory would have seen them join Bournemouth at the top of the South West Conference and they were looking to complete the double over Kevin Hodges young side after beating the Pilgrims 4-2 in the corresponding fixture back in late August.

Hodges travelled with four of his promising under-16's drafted in to his squad, and would give a debut to Connor McAuley in the second half, but that did not stop his side shaking their hosts by taking a 24th minute lead. A bad backpass was miscontrolled by the Robins 'keeper for Ryan Lane to nip in and steer the ball into an empty net.

The second half was 17 minutes old when Argyle doubled their lead after good work, on the right flank, by Jason Vincent. His cross found Alex Fletcher, who took on two defenders before firing past the advancing 'keeper for his first Alliance League goal.

Swindon hit back five minutes later when a ball through the middle caught the Argyle defence square for the Robins striker to fire past Andrew Hannah.

Substitute McAuley went close to adding a third before Argyle struck again, 10 minutes from time. Once again it was great play by Vincent that ended with Lane taking on his marker, on the edge of the area, before hitting a great strike in to the home goal.

The Argyle defence, for the first time in the match, switched off a minute later allowing the home side to pull another goal back but it came too late to alter the result and deny Argyle a deserved victory.

"We worked very hard in what was a good team effort which culminated in three very good goals," said a delighted Argyle Academy Manager Kevin Hodges.

Argyle: Andrew Hannah, Mason Hughes, Owen Jones, Tom Moxham, Jamil Roberts, Josh Richards, Will Sargent, Sam Ryan (Connor McAuley 70), Ryan Lane, Jason Vincent, Alex Fletcher (Billy Palfrey 80).