Argyle Under-18s cruised to victory in their Youth Alliance League opener at Millennium Fields against Watford.
Seb Campbell inspired the victory, bagging a hat trick in the space of 21 minutes. James Sharpe and Tashall Sandhu also found the back of the net, as did second-half substitute Marley-Blu Francis.
Jamie Lowry’s side did not have it all their own way, especially in the early exchanges, Watford looked a side well up for the contest.
This was evidenced when the Hornets took the lead after just nine minutes. The visitor’s early intensity paid dividends when they were able to steal the ball on the edge of Argyle’s penalty area.
Advanced forward Asher Neal was the Watford player to profit from this turnover and was able to slide the ball past Leo McCormick, making it 1-0.
The Hornets then came close again; Neal’s strike partner Sonny Fraser blasted an effort over the crossbar that he probably should have threatened McCormick’s goal with.
It took a moment of magic to flip the game on its head, cue Campbell. The Argyle midfielder tried his luck with a volleyed effort from the edge of the box, which he, and Watford ‘keeper Finlay Murray, watched fly straight into the top corner.
That sting, arguably against the run of play, killed the Hornets’ momentum. Sharpe was growing into the game, enjoying a physical battle with commanding centre-half Harrison Hudson. As were wingers Sandhu and Jared Rendle, who gave their respective full-backs a tough afternoon in the 25-degree heat.
The game began to open up; Watford’s Fraser came close again before Sam Hayman headed narrowly wide from an Argyle corner.
As half-time drew closer it felt very much as though the game was held in the balance. That was until Campbell stepped up again in spectacular fashion.
This time from further out, he lashed a volley beyond the outstretched glove of Murray, finding the top-left corner.
Before the Hornets had chance to catch their breath, it was 3-1 Argyle, Sharpe landing a quick double blow.
Argyle’s front pair combined; Frankie Maund set it for Sharpe who was never going to miss.
The Watford implosion was now in full effect; they were absolutely desperate for half time.
Lowry’s side did not relent, sensing the opportunity to put the game beyond doubt before they had even reached the interval.
Sandhu, in an attempt to better Campbell’s previous two strikes, produced his own volleyed effort that found the top corner.
It was a tough afternoon for Murray in the Watford goal, who despite conceding four times, will have felt there was not much he could have done to prevent any of them.
Half-time came as a much-needed respite for Watford, but an inconvenience for the young Pilgrims who looked set on adding to their lead.
It took just two minutes for the Greens to do this when the game resumed, Campbell had his hat trick.
Credit must go to Rendle who kept the chance alive by steaming into the visitor’s penalty area to ensure his side retained possession.
This one was right place, right time for Campbell. He arrived late on the scene to apply the finishing touch, lofting the ball delicately over Murray to make it 5-1.
In a game with a scoreline like this, it is easy to focus on the attackers, but credit must also go to the Pilgrims’ defence.
Skipper Joe Mwaro commanded his team well and was always in the right position to snub any Watford counter attacks. Hayman and Jovan Wamani looked unbeatable in the air and prevented the visitors from playing long. When they did find a chance, Dylan Williams was often on hand to make a last-ditch intervention to ensure McCormick was not called into action.
With the game won, Lowry turned to his bench at various points throughout the second half, bringing on Francis, Emran Boudarga-Wischhoff, Harry Locke, and Corey Browne for Maund, Campbell, Rendle, and Sharpe.
Three of those replacements combined well and came close to finding a sixth. Francis and Boudarga-Wischhoff linked down the right before involving Locke, his effort dragged just wide of the post from a tight angle.
The elusive sixth goal did eventually come in second-half stoppage time. Francis lobbed Murray with an audacious looping volley from range which caught out the Watford goalkeeper, who was well off his line.
Other than the defensive blunder early on, an opening game will struggle to get much better than that.
Six goals, four different scorers, and an utterly dominant performance throughout – Lowry’s side have made a statement to the rest of the division.
After the game, Lowry spoke of just that, asking his side to make a statement pre-match.
He said: “I asked them at the start of the game to set the tone for the season and put down a bit of a marker.
“We worked on a way of playing and to be fair we executed what we worked on all pre-season in terms of being competitive and being able to play forward early.
“Obviously being ruthless in front of goal, which we were today, so I’m really pleased with lots of aspects of pre-season that have come to fruition today.”
No coach will ever be completely happy with their team’s performance; there is always room for improvement. Lowry picked up on the need for his side to cut out conceding early goals.
Lowry said: “It might have been just a little bit of a wakeup call we needed, or kicking us into gear.
“It’s something we need to get better at; we do keep conceding poor goals and giving teams headstarts to make it more difficult for ourselves.
“The most pleasing thing is the response; that woke us up a little bit, we started being a little bit more alive, started playing forward a bit more, started being a bit more aggressive in the press.
“It was a real good mentality to come back from one-nil down and end up scoring six.
“I thought it was great that we had lots of different people contributing, it wasn’t just the strikers scoring goals, it was all over the team.”
Argyle: 23 Leo McCormick, 2 Joe Mwaro (capt), 3 Jovan Wamani, 4 Joel Tolcher, 5 Sam Hayman, 6 Dylan Williams, 7 Tashall Sandhu, 8 Seb Campbell (16 Emran Boudarga-Wischhoff, 63), 9 Frankie Maund (15 Marley-Blu Francis, 63), 10 James Sharpe (12 Corey Browne, 76), 11 Jared Rendle (14 Harry Locke, 66). Substitute: 1 Charlie Pawley (gk).
Goals: Campbell 26, 42, 47, Sharpe 45+1, Sandhu 45+3, Francis 90+4
