Halls' Swindon Reaction
Oscar Halls, making just his second appearance for the Argyle first-team, saw Will Jenkins Davies open the scoring for The Pilgrims in their 3-1 win at Swindon Town in the Papa Johns Trophy.
Two minutes later, Oscar had joined his Academy colleague on the evening’s scoresheet, with both apprentices getting their first goals at senior level.
“I saw him score and I thought: ‘I want to get that too!’” said a beaming Oscar, to Argyle TV after the game. “It’s a surreal moment. I saw Jack whip the ball in so I thought I would jump early, get a good contact and just direct it past the keeper.
“It’s a great feeling. Both of us are really buzzing for our first pro goal, we’re really happy.”
And rightly so. Along with Jack Endacott, Brandon Pursall and Freddie Issaka, who came on as a second half substitute, Oscar and Will made up a quintet of teenagers who took part in the game, and all could walk away very content with their contributions.
“If you are on your own it could be a bit more daunting coming into it,” said Oscar, “but having familiar faces to your left and right in the dressing room helps you through it a bit more. It’s good that we are all performing on the pitch in a first-team environment.”
After Will and Oscar had given Argyle a 2-0 half-time lead, hosts Swindon came into the game a little more after the break, but Ryan Hardie’s goal late on sealed the win, although Swindon did get a late consolation through Rushian Hepburn-Murphy.
Oscar played the game at right wing-back, a position he was occupying for the first time in his young career, but with the confidence placed in him by manager Steven Schumacher, as well as some experienced players, in particular right-sided centre-back James Wilson, on the pitch to help him through, Oscar did a sterling job.
“It’s the first time I have ever played there,” he said. “The gaffer told me yesterday that I was playing there, so I had to adapt and think about what I was going to do. It’s a lot different to playing centre-back. There are a lot fewer options, so I had to think quicker, move the ball quicker and then get myself on the back post.
“[James Wilson] was talking me through the whole game, helping me out, telling me when to drop and when to press. It was really helpful having someone with that much experience behind me.
“The two goals came at a perfect opportunity, just heading in to half-time. We came out, Swindon changed their formation, I think we rode a bit of pressure when they were starting to build momentum, but then Ryan went through and scored, and it took that off us. They scored in the last minute, but I think it was a good performance.
“The longer we can stay in, get into the knockout stage and progress in that, then hopefully I will have more opportunities from the gaffer, and hopefully keep performing well. It’s all good.”
