Argyle Under-18s booked their place in the second round of the FA Youth Cup with an emphatic 6-0 win against Mangotsfield United at Home Park on Tuesday night.
Seb Campbell’s stunning first-half strike gave the Young Pilgrims the lead at the break, before Frankie Maund took centre stage with four goals after the interval. Campbell then completed his brace to round off the evening for the Greens.
Head Coach Jamie Lowry made six changes to the side that drew 3-3 to Luton Town in the league on Saturday. In goal, Leo McCormick replaced Charlie Pawley, while at the back Toby Rider, Corey Browne and Dylan Williams made way for Billy Devlin, Jared Rendle and Sam Hayman. Elsewhere, Marley-Blu Francis and James Sharpe came in for Harry Locke and Emran Boudarga-Wischhoff.
From right to left, Devlin, Hayman, Toby MacLean and Rendle made up the back four ahead of McCormick. Joel Tolcher and Campbell continued their partnership in central midfield, flanked by Tashall Sandhu and Francis, leaving Sharpe and Maund to lead the line.
Argyle dominated the opening stages of the game, but Mangotsfield had the best early opportunity when Raymond Oppong found space in the box, only for his header to clear the crossbar.
The Greens took a deserved lead in the eighth minute when Campbell produced a moment of magic worthy of the FA Youth Cup. Receiving the ball in the centre of midfield, he drove towards the box and unleashed a powerful left-footed strike that rattled against the crossbar twice, before dropping over the line.
Argyle continued their fast start and should have scored again shortly after Campbell’s opener, with Francis and Maund having two good goalscoring opportunities each.
With the Greens leading 1-0, Tolcher came close to doubling the advantage, forcing an excellent save from Jacob Watts. The visitors quickly broke forward from that save and Morino Diallo lifted the ball over McCormick, who had come rushing off his line, but MacLean made a superb recovery run to get back and clear the danger.
The visitors gradually grew into the game, making it a much closer contest as the half progressed. Tolcher was booked after stopping a Mangotsfield counter-attack, with Giuseppe La Porta threatening to break through on goal after a ball over the top of Argyle’s back line.
Minutes later, Tolcher’s midfield partner Campbell was also booked, after sliding into a challenge on Daniel Stokes.
Lowry opted for a change in personnel at the break and replaced Sandhu with 15-year-old winger Alfie Vosper.
Argyle emerged for the second half with renewed intent and doubled their lead within three minutes of the restart. Maund rose highest to meet Rendle’s corner, directing his header towards goal and finding the back of the net via Watts’ body.
Maund struck again two minutes later to make it 3-0. The Argyle attacker latched onto Hayman’s ball over the top, brought it under control, wrong-footed his marker before lifting a looping left-footed finish over Watts.
The prolific striker then completed his second-half hat-trick on the hour mark. Devlin exchanged passes with Sharpe before finding Maund inside the box. Although his initial effort was blocked by Oscar Oates, he reacted quickest to the rebound to fire past Watts.
Sharpe had a good opportunity to get himself on the scoresheet after substitute Vosper played a pinpoint through ball to leave him one-on-one with Watts, but the Mangotsfield keeper spread himself well to limit the Greens’ advantage to four.
Maund was not satisfied with his tally for the evening and continued to torment the visitors’ defence. Rendle’s forward pass found the striker, who took his first touch around Oates and produced a clinical finish across goal to make it 5-0.
Campbell rounded off the scoring in the 87th minute after taking a quick corner to Devlin and receiving the ball back, before firing a right-footed effort that deflected off Watts and into the net.
An accomplished team performance against Mangotsfield sees Argyle progress to the second round of the FA Youth Cup, where they will face St Ives Town. Fixture and ticket information will be confirmed in due course.
Argyle: 23 Leo McCormick, 2 Billy Devlin (capt), 3 Jared Rendle, 4 Joel Tolcher (16 Max Moser, 74), 5 Sam Hayman, 6 Toby MacLean, 7 Tashall Sandhu (17 Alfie Vosper, HT), 8 Seb Campbell, 9 Frankie Maund (12 Dylan Williams, 80), 10 James Sharpe (18 Emran Boudarga-Wischhoff, 74), 11 Marley-Blu Francis (15 Harry Locke, 74). Substitutes: 1 Charlie Pawley, 14 Corey Browne.
Goals: Campbell 8, 87, Maund 48, 50, 60, 69
Booked: Tolcher 30, Campbell 32
Referee: James Long
Attendance: 248