Argyle Under-18s battled their way to a 3-2 win over Barnet, maintaining their perfect record in the EFL Youth Alliance League.
Despite a bright start for the Young Pilgrims, it was Barnet who took the lead in the 12th minute through striker Chinoso Achodor.
Jamie Lowry’s side reacted well and turned the game around thanks to two quickfire goals – the first from Joel Tolcher and the second courtesy of Frankie Maund’s header.
James Sharpe netted a spectacular half-volley ten minutes into the second half, before Leo Rex found a late consolation goal for the visitors to set up a tense final 10 minutes.
Lowry made five changes from Tuesday’s 3-0 win over Newport County, with Leo McCormick and Seb Campbell unavailable due to their involvement with the first team. Charlie Pawley and Billy Devlin came into the side while Deniz Doru, Harry Locke and Emran Boudarga-Wischhoff were also replaced by Toby MacLean, Tashall Sandhu and Sharpe.
Under-16s goalkeeper Pawley started behind a back four of Jovan Wamani, Dylan Williams, MacLean and Corey Browne with Tolcher and Devlin in midfield. Sandhu and Marley-Blu Francis played out wide, while Sharpe partnered Maund up top.
Argyle started well, but Barnet took the lead when a long ball from the Bees’ defence caught the Young Pilgrims’ back-line out. Achodor raced through on goal and made no mistake, slotting past Pawley into the bottom-right corner.
The response was immediate, with MacLean heading narrowly wide before Argyle found their equaliser through Tolcher.
Maund teed up Sharpe down the right, with the Maltese youth international delivering a low pass into box for Tolcher to meet with a well-timed strike into the back of the net.
Just three minutes later, Argyle were ahead. Maund finished off a throw-in routine with a bullet header at the back post after Francis’ deep cross found him in space.
Sharpe almost doubled the advantage before half-time when Pawley’s clearance sent him through on goal, but his effort was narrowly wide.
Lowry’s side continued to limit Barnet to half-chances, with Santiago Colorado attempting an audacious lob from distance towards the end of the half, but it failed to trouble Pawley’s goal.
The visitors started the second half with more purpose, with Achodor seeing two shots from inside the box blocked - one by Williams and the other by his own teammate.
But 10 minutes into the half, Argyle extended their lead in spectacular fashion.
Sandhu’s cross towards Maund was only partially cleared, with the ball falling to Sharpe on the edge of the box. The forward produced an outrageous half-volley that curled into the top-right corner of Lucius Russel’s goal.
Possession changed hands more often than Lowry would have liked for the remainder of the contest, leading to an end-to-end final 30 minutes as Barnet pushed for a way back into the game.
The visitors began to pile the pressure on, especially when Argyle were left playing with 10 men for a few minutes as Maund was forced off. The Greens were restored to a full 11 as under-16s duo Max Moser and Toby Tamblyn replaced Maund and Sharpe, who had both put in a hardworking performance for the team.
Barnet substitute Kavarni Brissett-Levy caused trouble for the Argyle defence and created a few good chances for Achodor, who should have got one back for the Londoners.
Brissett-Levy was then shown a yellow card for a bad foul on Devlin that left the midfielder with a gash on his left knee.
Barnet’s relentless pressure was rewarded in the 81st minute when Rex capitalised on a mix-up at the back to make it 3-2.
A tense final ten minutes was to follow.
Williams made a goal-saving challenge to maintain Argyle’s lead with just two minutes of normal time remaining. Then, deep into the four minutes of stoppage time, Pawley made another fantastic save with his body to deny Brissett-Levy from close range.
Despite Barnet’s efforts, the Young Pilgrims managed to see out a 3-2 win and make it seven wins in as many YAL games.
Lowry was pleased with his team’s efforts but believes there is still room for improvement.
He said: “It’s a credit to the boys that they keep finding a way to win, which is important in football. But, for the development side of the game, if we want to try to get our players closer to the first team, then we have got to be better technically. We have to deal with the ball better, so we are not on the back foot during games.
“But well done to the lads, because you can tell that they’re giving everything they have got. They are working so hard and grinding out results. The effort levels are there, but we can definitely go up in our performance standards.”
Argyle have now scored 29 times in the league this season. Lowry praised Sharpe, Maund and Boudarga-Wischhoff for their goalscoring prowess up top.
“All three of our strikers do well whenever they play,” said Lowry. “They are all natural goalscorers, which we are very fortunate to have one of, let alone three.
“We can be confident as a team that we always have the ability to go and score which is great. Now it’s our job as coaches to keep polishing them up and giving them different techniques to make them better all-round players, as well as goalscorers.”
Argyle: 1 Charlie Pawley, 2 Jovan Wamani, 3 Corey Browne, 4 Joel Tolcher, 5 Dylan Williams, 6 Toby MacLean, 7 Tashall Sandhu (16 Emran Boudarga-Wischhoff, 65), 8 Billy Devlin (capt), 9 Frankie Maund (14 Max Moser, 74), 10 James Sharpe (12 Toby Tamblyn, 74), 11 Marley-Blu Francis (15 Harry Locke, 65). Substitutes: 23 Danny Ley.
Goals: Tolcher 21, Maund 24, Sharpe 55