Match report for Portsmouth U18 vs Plymouth Argyle U18 on 04 Nov 17

ARGYLE youngsters suffered a Cup hangover as they lost in the EFL Youth Alliance at Portsmouth

Matt Ward scored the goal for Argyle following Portsmouth's opener, but unfortunately it was Pompey that got the third, decsive, winning goal of the game.

The young Pilgrims started their match very well, creating chance after chance coming from a number of corners, free kicks as they got a lot of crosses into the box.

Despite dominating in the first half, it was Pompey that netted the first goal of the match as Argyle conceded what Academy Director Kevin Hodges desrbed as a "soft goal" 

The goal from Pompey was shortly followed eight minutes later by an equaliser from Ward. The goal came from a one-on-one challenge against Pompey's goalkeeper which lead to Ward being able to comfortably whip the ball into the net.

Portsmouth then increased the scoreline to 2-1, which made Argyle spring back to life and were able to create a number of chances for themselves but they were unable to finalise them and get goals back.

"We didn't start well in the second half," Hodges said. "We spent too long passing the ball which played into Portsmouth's hands a bit.

"I was pleased with a lot of things but was disappointed with the final score.

"Unfortunately we were unable to capitalise the chances we made for ourselves."

Argyle: Harry Townsend (gk), Harry Hodges, Ryan Law, Harry Downing, Elliott Crawford, Tom Purrington, Cameron Sangster, Matt Ward (65 Jude Boyd), Klaidi Lolos, Billy Craske, Luke Jephcott.