A late Sam Lord strike won Argyle their Under-18s Professional Development League Cup game on Saturday afternoon against AFC Bournemouth at Millennium Fields.
The visitors initially took the lead in PL2, but a headed goal from Kian Burch in the first half and a finish in the dying moments from Lord handed the Greens three points in the cup competition.
The opening 25 minutes of the tie showed it may be a tough afternoon to find the back of the net, with both sides creating chances in the opposition's final third but nothing to fully test either goalkeeper.
Just before the half-hour mark, however, Bournemouth took the lead. A quick counter-attack ended with a left-footed finish into the far corner of Jack Flower’s goal.
This did not affect the mindset of Jamie Lowry’s side, though. Two minutes after falling behind, the Greens should have drawn level. Fletcher Poole delivered a teasing ball into the box, which Frankie Maund flicked towards goal, after reacting best in the box, but his effort ran just wide of the post and out of play.
Bournemouth had a chance to double their lead before the break, but fired over from 10 yards out, and it soon came to haunt them, as Argyle found the equaliser through Burch. Joe Mwaro’s free-kick delivery from the left flank was headed home by the Greens’ number 10, after beating his man in the air.
After the restart, Argyle’s confidence was on full show, creating chances in front of goal and around the penalty box of the visitors. Maund was taken down inside the box after chopping onto his left foot, but the referee waved play on, much to the annoyance of players in Green.
Neither side could create any chances over the next 30 minutes of the tie, but in the 92nd minute of the game, Lord found the winner.
The ball fell to the midfielder inside the area, after great driving play from Tashall Sandhu, and a powerful poke at the ball followed, guiding the ball into the bottom left corner of the Bournemouth goal and handing Argyle three points in cup play.
Head Coach Jamie Lowry said: "Saturday was a really good and disciplined performance from the lads. I was pleased with how patient we were out of possession and, overall, how disciplined they were was outstanding. I think we fully deserved to get a late winner with how we played.
"I'm pleased with how we played when we went forward, and maybe also had some opportunities as well to take the lead earlier on, but it was a really good performance. Hopefully, we can use that as a potential catalyst to kick on now."
Argyle: 1 Jack Flower, 2 James Sharpe (16 Joel Tolcher, 81), 3 Joe Mwaro (capt), 4 Billy Devlin (15 Oscar Dean, 81), 5 Sam Hayman, 6 Toby Haley, 7 Tashall Sandhu, 8 Sam Lord, 9 Frankie Maund, 10 Kian Burch (14 Malachi Davy, 81), 11 Fletcher Poole. Substitutes: 23 Danny Ley (gk), 12 Kye Chapple.
