Argyle Under-18s earned a hard-fought 1-0 victory against Bristol City in their opening PDL Cup group-stage game.
Sam Hayman’s second-half goal proved the difference between Argyle and their higher-category opposition.
For their second cup clash of the week, Lowry made four changes to the side that lost against Exeter City on Tuesday afternoon.
Thomas Armytage, who had spent the last week out in Italy with England Under-16s, took the place of Leo McCormick, who himself has had a change of scene, joining Plymouth Parkway on a short-term work experience loan.
Elsewhere, Dylan Willams, Marley-Blu Francis and Frankie Maund took the places of Corey Browne, Harry Locke and Emran Boudarga-Wischhoff at centre-back, right-midfield and striker, respectively.
This meant it was Armytage in goal, with a back four ahead of him containing Jovan Wamani, Williams, Hayman, and Jared Rendle, from right to left.
Seb Campbell and Joel Tolcher remained in the centre of midfield, Francis flanked to the right and Tashall Sandhu to the left. Maund, fresh from a rest midweek, led the line alongside James Sharpe.
Argyle began with intent, taking the game to the Robins, letting them know they were well up for the cup tie.
Maund did what he has done excellently to this point in the season, stretched the opposition defence, creating chances not only for himself, but for his teammates too.
The first of which fell to Campbell, who saw an effort blocked inside the box. Sandhu was the next to take aim, drilling a shot narrowly wide of the post.
Midway through the first half, the heavens opened in Bristol. It absolutely hammered it down, killing the momentum the game had up until that point.
Just before the break, Williams made a crucial intervention to deny Cameron Bailey on the counter before the Greens had chances of their own, Maund and Francis taking aim from close range.
After half-time, Lowry’s side continued to impress. Sharpe missed a big opportunity to put his team ahead after he was picked out in the box.
The breakthrough finally came on 51 minutes, Argyle managed to put themselves ahead from a Sandhu corner.
The winger actually seemed to botch the cross, delivering a bouncing low ball which neither side were expecting. This inadvertently worked in the Pilgrims favour, causing chaos in the box, the ball hit Hayman before he was able to prod it past Hugo Kemmery in goal.
It was expected from this point that City would throw all they could at the Greens in an attempt to get back into the game, the question was, could Argyle keep them out.
They passed that test with flying colours, not only did they defend well and ensure they took the three points, but they continued to threaten the hosts on the break.
Campbell probably should have sealed the result on 78 minutes when he arrived on cue to meet a cut-back. Instead of powering it past the ‘keeper he scuffed it straight at him, allowing Kemmery to make an easy save.
Nevertheless, this did not prove consequential as Argyle held on and ran out 1-0 victors.
After the game, Lowry was beaming with pride when asked about the excellent performance from his team:
He said: “The boys showed a great response after Tuesday; I thought it was a complete performance. Maybe we lacked a little bit in the final third, I thought we could have had a couple more.
“Our general build-up play was brilliant, the boys had great shape with our out-of-possession stuff, we were really difficult to break down.
“I’m really pleased with some great performances; it was a great way to respond to a disappointing result on Tuesday against a very strong Bristol City side.
“We’ve got a little bit of a break now; we’ve got a clear week with no games so the boys will get some rest and recovery, before we work hard again at the end of the week in preparation for the Premier League Cup.”
Bristol City: 1 Hugo Kemmery, 2 Ethan Monks (19 Jayden Moyo, 78), 3 Oliver Williams, 4 Roman Chiswell, 5 Stanley Sainsbury, 6 Theo Hodge, 7 Marley Ellis-Lewin, 8 Desmond Kumih-Barimah (capt), 9 Devonte Ferguson, 10 Cameron Bailey (17 Shayon Gray-Plummer, 78), 11 Pawel Kalkowski. Substitutes: 12 Ali Tucker, 14 Billy Amos, 15 Rafe McDonagh, 16 Lenny Holdsworth, 18 Illan Wood.
Booked: Monks 69
Argyle: 1 Thomas Armytage, 2 Jovan Wamani, 3 Jared Rendle, 4 Joel Tolcher, 5 Sam Hayman (capt), 6 Dylan Williams, 7 Tashall Sandhu, 8 Seb Campbell, 9 Frankie Maund, 10 James Sharpe, 11 Marley-Blu Francis. Substitutes: 23 Charlie Pawley (gk), 12 Corey Browne, 14 Billy Devlin, 15 Harry Locke, 16 Emran Boudarga-Wischhoff.
Goals: Hayman 51
Booked: Rendle 57, Hayman 90
Referee: Jack Bromham