Argyle Under-18s rescued a late point against Bristol Rovers on Saturday, with Frankie Maund scoring the equaliser in a dramatic 3-3 draw.
Toby MacLean gave the Young Pilgrims an early lead inside the opening 90 seconds with Maund doubling the advantage after 12 minutes of play.
However, Rovers fought back with a goal from Ciaran O’Donnell and a Stanley Dunne brace before Maund’s 85th minute equaliser.
Head Coach Jamie Lowry made six changes from Tuesday’s meeting between the two sides, which also ended in a 3-3 draw. Leo McCormick, Jared Rendle, MacLean, Billy Devlin, Tashall Sandhu and Maund all returned to the line-up after being rested midweek.
McCormick replaced Charlie Pawley in goal behind a back three of Dylan Williams, MacLean and Browne, with Rendle and Toby Rider operating as wing-backs. Sandhu played ahead of Joel Tolcher and Devlin in a three-man midfield leaving James Sharpe to partner Maund up front.
Argyle had a perfect start to the game when MacLean found the back of the net within 90 seconds of kick-off, directing Rendle’s pinpoint free kick towards goal.
Shortly afterwards, Maund displayed his intelligence, holding the ball up excellently and evading tackles before unleashing a powerful strike to test William Wilson. The Rovers goalkeeper appeared to have dealt with the shot, but the ball rolled through his legs and dribbled into the back of the net giving Argyle a 2-0 lead.
The Young Pilgrims’ second goal seemed to ignite the Pirates who reacted well to going two behind. After Argyle failed to retain possession, Dunne made it 2-1 with a clever shot from the edge of the box into the bottom-left corner.
Leo Kelleher should have drawn the hosts level in the 27th minute, but the left-back dragged his shot wide when left one-on-one with McCormick.
Rovers continued to push for another goal before half-time, but Argyle’s keeper made several outstanding saves to keep it 2-1. McCormick’s standout stop came when he rushed out to deny Kazim Salahi-Ali from close range.
For much of the game, Argyle failed to sustain periods of possession in wet and windy conditions due to the arrival of Storm Austen.
Lowry’s side were punished for their lack of control when O’Donnell equalised just three minutes into the second half. The winger was left unmarked at the back post after Henry De-Long headed a Rovers corner back across the six-yard box.
McCormick made another great save on the hour mark to deny Al-Amin Odumboni whose influence on the game was growing as the Pirates enjoyed the majority of the ball.
After a number of second-half chances Rovers took the lead when O’Donnell controlled a looping pass and crossed into the box to find Dunne who netted his second of the afternoon.
This prompted a reaction from Argyle as Rendle, Rider and MacLean all had good opportunities to make it 3-3.
Then, in the 85th minute, Maund struck again to score his 13th league goal of the season and draw the Argyle level. The equaliser came following a sequence of high-tempo, passing football that resulted in Maund heading home from Tolcher’s accurate cross.
Both sides had chances to win it late on, but Wilson and McCormick produced several saves each meaning the points were shared.
Lowry was disappointed that his side were unable to see out the win after being two goals to the good.
He said: “It’s really frustrating. We spoke about it last week after the Northampton game and we addressed it on Tuesday too – it’s something that we have got to work on.
“For me, it’s a mentality thing. It’s nothing tactical or technical. It’s the mentality to be leading by two goals and stay hungry for more. But the lads can learn from this past week and hopefully it will only make them stronger moving forwards.”
Argyle will now have a rare week on the training pitches, as their scheduled fixture against Leyton Orient was postponed due to the FA Youth Cup. Lowry sees this as a blessing and insists his squad will make the most of it.
“The games programme has been really hectic. We’ve not had a lot of time on the grass and that’s where the boys actually really develop. The games are great because they get to put what they learn into practice, but when we’ve got a clear week, that’s when we can really get the lads to develop.
“The main positive that we can take into playing Luton next Saturday is that we’ve still lost only one league game from 10 and that is very impressive. The lads can use the confidence they gain from that and work on what we’ve been lacking recently to hopefully win that game.”
Argyle: 23 Leo McCormick, 2 Dylan Williams, 3 Jared Rendle, 4 Joel Tolcher, 5 Corey Browne (15 Harry Locke, 68), 6 Toby MacLean, 7 Billy Devlin (capt) (14 Max Moser, 71), 8 Tashall Sandhu, 9 Frankie Maund, 10 James Sharpe (16 Emran Boudarga-Wischhoff, 20), 11 Toby Rider. Substitutes: 1 Charlie Pawley, 12 Toby Tamblyn.
Goals: MacLean 2, Maund 12, 85
Booked: MacLean 17, Rendle 70