Argyle Under-18s returned to winning ways in the EFL Youth Alliance League South on Saturday afternoon, with a 1-0 victory over AFC Wimbledon.
Frankie Maund’s last-minute header handed Jamie Lowry’s side a deserved three points, after a gritty and determined 90-minute-plus performance at Millennium Fields against the visiting Dons, who arrived in Devon undefeated.
Fletcher Poole had the chance to give Argyle an early lead after getting in behind Wimbledon’s high defensive line, but his early left-footed shot across goal ran wide of the far post and out of play for a goal kick.
Minutes later, the Greens’ number nine had a chance to rectify his missed effort early on – and did not do much wrong when striking towards goal – but had to watch his shot be saved excellently by Eterne Djedje.
The remainder of the first half was dominated by back-and-forth football. Wimbledon came closest from a flicked effort, but it was cleared off the line by Malachi Davy and away from the Argyle box.
Both Oscar Dean and Sam Lord were shown yellow cards, but that, alongside the aforementioned Wimbledon chance, was all the first half could bring to those in attendance.
The second half, however, was a completely different story. Seb Campbell came close to opening the scoring on the afternoon, but his powerful effort, from outside the box, flew just past the top-right corner of the visitors’ goal.
Head Coach Lowry turned to his bench over the next 25 minutes, bringing on Maund and James Sharpe for Poole and Kian Burch, with it eventually working in his favour, but Argyle have Jack Flower to thank for that.
The Greens’ number one made two superb reaction saves, the second stopping a potential game-winning goal for the visitors from close range.
Wimbledon’s Tom Carvalho-Norris was shown a straight red card for a two-footed foul on Tashall Sandhu, who then had the chance to steal the three points, just minutes later. His volleyed effort, with Djedje off his line and an open goal ahead of him, ran wide of the goal, however.
Fortunately, that did not matter for too long. Toby Maclean found himself in an unusual spot in the box and tried to curl the ball into the far corner, after picking it up on the right, but watched it get blocked.
The ball looped over the head of all in blue in the box, arching perfectly to Maund at the back post to head home, sprint to the corner, and be mobbed by his teammates after knee sliding towards the flag, securing the three points for Argyle.
After the full-time whistle, Lowry said: “I’m delighted. It was a great performance for 90 minutes plus. We started really well and should have been at least one or two goals up after getting into some fantastic areas, but just lacked a little bit of quality. I can't fault the lads’ effort and endeavour throughout the game, however.
“They competed, fought, and played some really good stuff at times. I’m so pleased for them to get that goal right at the very end that they fully deserved, as it was a real team performance to get the result.
“Jack had a couple of saves at the end, Frankie came off the bench and got his goal, and all the boys worked tirelessly. The midfielders fought, got on the ball, and were calm in possession. It was a really good performance, overall.
“My point to the boys at the end was that this needs to be more often, and consistently. This is what you can produce. I think we're better, player for player, but collectively, my question mark was over ‘are they doing enough for the team? They showed that they can be a team today.”
Argyle: 1 Jack Flower, 2 Toby Haley, 3 Malachi Davy, 4 Oscar Dean (capt), 5 Sam Hayman, 6 Toby Maclean, 7 Tashall Sandhu, 8 Sam Lord, 9 Fletcher Poole (16 James Sharpe, 79), 10 Seb Campbell, 11 Kian Burch (15 Frankie Maund, 58). Substitutes: 23 Tom Armytage, 12 Ollie Leg, 14 Trialist A.
