Argyle Under-18s were defeated 3-0 at Millennium Fields by Cambridge United on Saturday morning.
The U’s came away with three points, continuing their positive start to the EFL Youth Alliance South season, thanks to goals from Daniel Efobi, Freddie Jolland and Samuel Okolie.
Despite having the first chance of the tie, through a Toby Maclean flicked effort from a corner, Argyle struggled to deal with Cambridge’s forward progress through a lot of the game.
Jack Flower’s double save in the opening 10 minutes helped keep the Greens in the affair but, just after the half-hour mark, Efobi gave the visitors the lead. Flower saved an initial effort from Cambridge, but it fell straight to the feet of the number nine to tap home.
Malachi Davy and Kian Burch both had efforts in front of goal in the final stages of the half, but it could not be turned into the equaliser that Argyle needed to get back into the game.
At the break, Jamie Lowry turned to his bench, bringing on Billy Devlin for Oscar Dean, with the latter just returning from a long-term injury.
The Greens were reduced to 10 men just 10 minutes into the half, however, when Devlin was shown a red card for a dangerous tackle in the middle of the pitch.
The next 30 minutes were filled with few chances and possession-based football but, in the final stages, Cambridge extended their lead, first through Jolland’s strike and Okolie’s tap-in at the back post.
Seb Campbell hit the bar, from a free-kick effort, in the last minute, but it meant nothing as Argyle suffered defeat at home.
Head Coach Lowry said: “I’m a bit disappointed [with that performance]. It was nowhere near the acceptable levels that we expect from our group of players. We had no fight, no competitiveness, and no quality in possession throughout the 90 minutes.
“I think people sometimes underestimate how hard it is to be a footballer. You’ve got to have a bit of character, personality, and work hard. You've got to compete and do more than your opponent in games. Today, we turned up and didn’t want to fight, battle with opponents, sprint forward, or do all the hard parts.
“We kept it short and sweet at the end and told them it was an unacceptable performance.”
Argyle: 1 Jack Flower, 2 Jovan Wamani (16 Frankie Maund, 75), 3 Malachi Davy (12 Ollie Legg, 70), 4 Oscar Dean (capt) (14 Billy Devlin, half-time), 5 Toby Haley, 6 Toby Maclean, 7 Tashall Sandhu, 8 Sam Lord, 9 James Sharpe, 10 Seb Campbell, 11 Kian Burch. Substitutes: 23 Leo McCormick (gk), 15 Joel Tolcher.
Yellow cards: Sharpe 28, Campbell 90+3.
Red card: Devlin 55.
