Argyle Under-18s beat Stevenage 4-0 to extend their winning start in the Youth Alliance League.
Frankie Maund netted a first-half brace and was joined on the scoresheet by Seb Campbell and Tegan Finn.
It was a first Under-18s involvement of the season for goalkeeper Thomas Armytage, just days after receiving an England Under-16 squad call up.
Finn was the only other change made by Jamie Lowry to the team that beat Watford 6-1 just over a week prior.
This meant it was Armytage in goal, with a back four ahead of him containing captain Joe Mwaro at right-back, Jared Rendle at left-back and the pairing of Sam Hayman and Dylan Williams at centre-back.
Campbell and Joel Tolcher held down central midfield and were flanked by Finn on the right and Tashall Sandhu on the left. James Sharpe and Maund led the line.
It took just three minutes for the Greens to take the lead, Maund prodding home a cross from Mwaro that eluded the hosts’ defence.
Stevenage attempted to respond quickly through Charlie Brown, but Armytage was quick off his line to prevent the Boro forward from even having a chance to get his shot away.
Maund could have had both his and Argyle’s second on 11 minutes, had it not been for Stevenage ‘keeper Calum Barnes denying him one-on-one.
The striker was proving too much for the hosts to handle, eventually winning a penalty when he was clumsily felled by Leonell Sadiku inside the box.
Campbell made no mistake from the spot, taking his league tally to four after sending Barnes the wrong way to make it 2-0.
Just before the half-time break, Maund eventually got his second, putting Argyle three goals to the good.
It was a great team move; Rendle burst forward before laying the ball to Sandhu, who skipped away from a couple of Stevenage challenges and found Mwaro centrally.
The defender played a pass a number ten would have been proud of, slipping in Maund who lashed the ball into the bottom-left corner.
The message from Lowry at half-time would have been more of the same, and that is exactly what he got.
Maund was just inches away from completing his hat trick after a magnificent Sandhu cross from the left.
Just after the hour mark, the Pilgrims did make it 4-0, Finn firing in as he has done for the Under-18s on so many past occasions.
He picked it up on the right, cut inside on his left foot and picked out the bottom corner from range, leaving Barnes with no chance.
Sandhu saw an effort bounce narrowly wide of the post just before full-time as he attempted to net Argyle’s fifth and add his name to the scoresheet.
A win, four goals and a clean sheet – there is not much more Lowry could ask for from his side.
Speaking after the game, the Argyle Under-18s Head Coach expressed how proud he was of his side’s performance.
“I thought the boys were outstanding,” Lowry said. “Against a very physical and forward-thinking Stevenage side.
“Our out-of-possession shape was excellent, the boys defended really well and dealt with a lot of Stevenage attacking threats.
“I thought in possession we were really calm and really caused them problems when we got the ball down on the counter-attack.
“We were well worthy of our 3-0 lead at half-time with some real clinical moments. It could have been a little bit more as well.
“I was really pleased with the clean sheet, that’s something we have spoke about a lot this year, being harder to beat and not conceding too many goals.
“This is just the start of it, something to build on. There are still little areas which we can improve at and be even better at. It’s a solid start.”
Stevenage: 1 Calum Barnes, 2 Tate Miller, 3 Teddy Walsh, 4 Leonell Sadiku, 5 Elijah Saji, 6 Josh Benton, 7 Max Gardner, 8 Eddie Wright, 9 Samuel Ayolie, 10 Alfie Robinson, 11 Charlie Brown. Substitutes: 13 Stanley Nairne (gk), 14 Alfie Bircham, 15 Ritchy Biyekele, 16 Albert Yaxley.
Argyle: 1 Thomas Armytage, 2 Joe Mwaro (capt), 3 Jared Rendle, 4 Joel Tolcher, 5 Sam Hayman, 6 Dylan Williams, 7 Tashall Sandhu, 8 Seb Campbell, 9 Frankie Maund, 10 James Sharpe (15 Emran Boudarga-Wischhoff, 60), 11 Tegan Finn (14 Marley-Blu Francis, 76). Substitutes: 12 Jovan Wamani.
Goals: Maund 3, 45, Campbell 22, Finn 61