Argyle comfortably won their opening game in the newly-christened Jersey Mike’s Trophy, beating Crystal Palace Under-21s 5-1 at Home Park.
The Greens were 3-0 up at the break, with a Xavier Amaechi peach followed by two from Caleb Watts. Palace substitute Donte Martin got one back fairly early in the second half, but Seb Campbell restored the Pilgrims’ three-goal advantage, and Bim Pepple, on from the bench, scored the fifth late on.
Argyle’s line-up, with 11 fresh faces from Saturday’s starters, included Jack MacKenzie, making his first appearance since coming on as a substitute on the final day of last season, at Northampton Town. It was his first start since 3 April, against Bolton Wanderers.
Also in the team from the outset was Jared Rendle, an apprentice, making his debut, and slotting in at left-back, with MacKenzie playing in central defence.
Argyle started with Jimmy Storer in goal, and captain Joe Edwards and Mathias Ross joining MacKenzie and Rendle in the backline. In midfield, Caleb Roberts, eligible to play despite being on loan at Torquay United, was joined by Bradley Ibrahim, with Amaechi and Caleb Watts on the flanks. Seb Campbell played in support of Owen Oseni, up front.
Oseni had the first two serious chances of the game, on eight and ten minutes. He was the beneficiary of a fortunate ricochet for the first opportunity, where a defender’s block cannoned off him and then kindly into his path. The shot looked destined for the bottom corner, but goalkeeper Harry Lee – a Devonian – made an excellent save.
The second Oseni chance saw him run into the left channel and then drive a low effort, this time beyond Lee, centimetres wide.
It was Amaechi who opened the scoring – and in some style.
Last season, Argyle scored goals aplenty, but there were only a handful of standouts. In the last ten days, they have scored three absolute pearlers that would have been the top three in the poll had they occurred at any point in 2025/26.
Following stunners by Oli Irow and Harvey White, this one came from the left foot of Amaechi, from approximately 30 yards out. Yes, there was precious little pressure on him, but the precision and power of the hit was gorgeous to watch, and when the net rippled, the Greens were in front.
And it was only going to become more. Poor Owen Oseni, though, looked destined not to score, despite some tireless front-running. He pounced on one loose ball, and clipped it goalwards, only for a defender to cover round.
Then, from his next goalbound shot, it was a team-mate who got there – although at least this did mean that Argyle had gone 2-0 up. It came from a neat move that came through Amaechi, who ghosted into space and slid a ball behind Palace, for the runs of Watts and Oseni. Watts was probably offside, but left the ball to Oseni, who clipped over the oncoming Lee.
It was probably going in, but Watts, now onside because of the quirks of the offside law, knocked it home to be sure.
Argyle looked for a third, with Lee making a good save from a powerful Campbell shot, but Palace had an opportunity when Ben Casey (who is rather pacy) got in behind. Storer, though, came out of his area with a perfectly timed tackle, to quell any thoughts of an Eagles goal back.
Unfortunately for Oseni, his evening came to a premature end on 33 minutes, after a run was halted, and he seemed to fall awkwardly. He was replaced by Matty Sorinola, which started a domino effect of positional changes. Sorinola went to left-back, Rendle pushed on to the left of midfield, and Watts went up front.
Having already scored, Watts was the man to make it 3-0. Rendle advanced, offloaded to Watts, who cut inside, in the area, onto his right foot, and hit a shot which deflected over Lee, and in.
Crystal Palace captain Adler Nascimento came close to getting one back when curling from the edge of the box, and seeing the effort go not far wide, but it was Argyle who went in comfortably three up at the break.
At the interval, MacKenzie was replaced by Wes Harding, in a pre-ordained switch in central defence.
With the game seemingly wrapped up in Argyle’s favour, it was a serene feel to the opening to the second period, but Palace got a goal 12 minutes into the half, when a cross from the left was headed on by Nascimento, and headed in by Martin.
Argyle made a triple change on the hour, sending on Pepple, Julio Pleguezuelo and Tyreeq Bakinson for Watts, Edwards and Roberts.
It was against Premier League Under-21 opposition, in this competition last season, that Seb Campbell scored a debut goal. In this outing, he scored his second Argyle goal, in his third appearance, to make it 4-1.
Palace sloppily gave the ball away to Amaechi, with the Argyle number 10 swiftly playing a sumptuous ball through for Ibrahim to run onto. Ibrahim was tackled, but the ball fell to Campbell in the area. His initial shot was seemingly superbly saved by Lee, but the ball went high into the air, spinning towards goal, and evaded a recovering defender to fall over the line.
Martin had a chance to get another goal for Palace, directing a ball towards the top corner, only for Storer to push it over.
Pepple added the fifth with five minutes to go. The ball had gone out for a throw on the left, and Campbell thought quickly to take it swiftly, into Pepple. The Canadian then performed what is starting to become his trademark. He held the ball, back to goal, a defender in close order, only to spin and fire home, from a very tight angle.
It looked like Pepple may have another only a couple of minutes later, but his rising effort was pushed away by Lee, and then the keeper foiled him again with the final chance of the game.
Argyle: 21 James Storer, 2 Mathias Ross, 3 Jack MacKenzie (45 Wes Harding, half-time), 8 Joe Edwards (capt, 5 Julio Pleguezuelo, 60), 10 Xavier Amaechi, 17 Caleb Watts (27 Bim Pepple, 60), 18 Owen Oseni (29 Matty Sorinola, 33), 23 Bradley Ibrahim, 24 Caleb Roberts(19 Tyreeq Bakinson, 60), 38 Seb Campbell, 42 Jared Rendle. Substitutes: 44 Thomas Armytage (gk), 14 Oliver Irow.
Goals: Amaechi 11, Watts 26, 37, Campbell 66, Pepple 85
Crystal Palace Under-21s: 41 David Lee, 38 Caleb Kporha (65 Nathanael Williams, half-time), 40 Joseph Gibbard, 43 Sebastian Williams, 47 Adler Nascimento (capt), 48 Tyler Whyte, 53 Ben Casey (77 Donte Martin, 33), 57 Sean Somade, 58 Chuks Okoli (72 Jacob Fasida, half-time), 62 Euan Danaher (50 Kai-Reece Adams-Collman, 82), 64 Amaari Sealey(75 Ajean-Ray Greaves, 90). Substitutes: 51 Marcus Hill (gk), 63 Khyan Frazer-Williams.
Goals: Martin 57
Booked: Sealey 54
Attendance: 2,187 (79 away)
Referee: Matthew Norton
