Development Fixture - Argyle 4 Torquay 1
Argyle 4
Morgan 26, Pearce og 41, Cox 45, Blizzard 62
Torquay United 1
Yeoman 14
A STRONG Argyle side came from behind to overwhelm their Devon neighbours on Tuesday afternoon with goals from Marvin Morgan, Lee Cox, Dominic Blizzard and a Krystian Pearce own goal.
The scorers were among eight Pilgrims’ starters who have already played first-team football this season and they were up against a far less experienced Torquay line-up.
However, the Gulls took the lead after 14 minutes when Liam Prynn broke free down the Argyle left and centred for Yeoman to place the ball neatly beyond the reach of Pilgrims’ goalkeeper James Bittner.
Bittner then prevented Argyle from going further behind when the visitors again broke quickly and incisively with Prynn this time taking on the shot only to see Bittner excellently beat out his fierce drive.
It took Argyle 12 minutes to get back on terms. Ollie Norburn’s strong run along the Mayflower Grandstand touchline ended with a cross to the far post which Nathan Thomas knocked back in for Morgan to bundle the ball over the line from close range.
The Pilgrims then took command of the match with two goals inside four minutes just before half-time, both after raids down Torquay’s right.
First, Tyler Harvey played the ball into the six-yard area, where Pearce, under little pressure, stretched and deflected it into his own net. Then, Thomas made the bye-line and served up the perfect cutback to met Cox’s well-timed run into the box.
Argyle made four changes at half-time, withdrawing both their scorers and giving first-team coach Paul Wotton – among others – a run-out, and the veteran defender supplied Blizzard for Argyle’s 62nd-minute fourth, a shot which crept under Gulls’ goalkeeper Jordan Seabright.
Torquay battled gamely and Jake Hutchings denied a rampant Argyle a fifth when he cleared substitute Jake Miller’s powerful shot off his goal-line with Seabright well beaten.
Argyle (4-3-3): 1 James Bittner; 2 River Allen, 4 Will Sargent (15 Paul Wotton half-time), 5 Aaron Bentley, 3 Ben Purrington; 8 Lee Cox (17 Jake Miler half-time), 6 Ollie Norburn (20 Tom Moxham half-time), 11 Dominic Blizzard (18 Ben Steer 81); 14 Tyler Harvey (16 Louis Rooney 81), 10 Marvin Morgan (9 Deane Smalley half-time), 7 Nathan Thomas (19 Jason Vincent 81). Substitute (not used): 23 Andrew Hannah (gk).
Torquay United (4-3-3): 23 Jordan Seabright; 15 Niall Thompson (12 Charlie Duke half-time), 20 Jake Hutchings, 5 Krystian Pearce (10 Max Mellanson 68), 3 Cormack Deery; 7 Sam Chaney (6 Johnny Buckle 68), 26 Dan Sullivan, 4 Josh Lynch; 11 Liam Prynn, 14 Ashley Yeoman, 8 Harry Mauzouros (31 Jack Hayes).
Referee: Lee Swabey.