It may have been Premier League prospects in Tottenham Hotspur Under-21s visiting Home Park on Tuesday night, but every one of the near-5,000 crowd would have left talking about Argyle’s young crop.
Players like Reece James, Marc Guehi, Conor Gallagher, Levi Colwill and Tino Livramento have all played against the Greens in the Vertu Trophy, before going on to play for England, and in years to come we may well realise there was a gem or two in Spurs’ line-up this week. However, after the Pilgrims came away 6-2 winners, it was a clutch of teens in green that were the talk of the ground.
Exhibit A: Tegan Finn. The 17-year-old scored two – the second and fifth goals – directly created two – Mathias Ross’s opening header and Owen Oseni’s goal, the fourth which came just before half-time – and had his fingerprints all over Bim Pepple’s goal, which made it 3-0 at the time, when Pepple finished from Ayman Benarous’s knockdown, following a Finn cross.
The final goal was scored by Seb Campbell, aged 16 and 279 days, who in doing so because Argyle’s youngster ever goalscorer. What a night for him, on his debut.
The midfield was marshalled by Caleb Roberts and Law McCabe, both 19 years old. The latter is, admittedly, a Middlesbrough product, on loan, but he is ours for the season and looked a class act in only his third Argyle appearance. Roberts continues to play with control and command that belies his youth and relative inexperience.
Head Coach Tom Cleverley was obviously delighted with Argyle’s result and performance, but reserved his biggest praise for his young stars.
“I think it's a night to celebrate our Academy,” said Tom. “You talk about these games, and it's a big ask for an under-21s team to come and face a senior first team, but we also had our own youngsters playing tonight.
“Caleb Roberts, 19. Law McCabe, 19. Tegan Finn 17, Seb Campbell, 16. It was a night where we put our best youngsters against some of their best youngsters. And I thought we were excellent, with Tegan getting his two goals and Seb becoming Argyle’s youngest ever scorer.
“A really proud moment for him, for his family. A proud moment for us as a staff.
“Nance said about two months ago, ’there's one in the Academy who's 16 years old who you should be looking at’, so we got him up to train. He trains with us every day. He's settled into that really well. The lads have accepted him - which is when you know you've got something - and he'll be even more accepted by the supporters, by the players.
“He should kick on from this. He's got a good head on his shoulders, good attitude, gets about his work with very low maintenance. He should have a very good, very bright future.
“Tegan's more than just goals and assists. He knows when to drop into pockets. He's got a really good game understanding. He knows where to be out of possession, in terms of covering space and then when to be aggressive in pressure.
“He's got a bright future ahead of him. I feel like I'm in a really good position to manage him through that from what I've experienced both as a player and a coach. He’s an exciting player for the club.
“[The quality of Academy players] is really something that I've been pleasantly surprised with when I've come down here. We're a category three Academy, but there’s absolutely no impact on the quality of young player that we have.
“It's something that I see as a big part of the way I work; Academy products coming into the first team and being a really important part of that.
“I’m delighted with this evening. There's a lot of people that can give themselves a pat on the back in getting those lads to where they are now.”
“In the first half, we've got our work done. Really professional, really efficient. I thought Law and Caleb ran the game, controlled the game. Out of possession we were hungry, we were aggressive, we were dominant physically.
“The older lads, the more physical ones, really showed their dominance and scoring from a set piece early in the game [meant we were] really setting our stall out.
“In the second half, a little bit disappointed; we need to get out of the habit of conceding goals. That, and not making teams work hard for their goals. I was disappointed with that, but will address that on the training field.
“All in all, a good night.”