Our Under-21s endured a chastening evening on the south coast on Tuesday, crashing to a 6-2 defeat to a strong Plymouth Argyle side in the Vertu Trophy.
A disastrous first-half display did the damage at Home Park as the League One hosts surged into a 3-0 lead inside half-an-hour and added a fourth before the break, with our young team struggling to cope with the task at hand.
We improved considerably after the restart but were hit by a sucker punch on 53 minutes as Argyle’s Player of the Match Tegan Finn doubled his tally to extend his side’s advantage, although Reiss Russell-Denny’s reply a few minutes later reminded the hosts we were still fighting.
We managed to get at Tom Cleverley’s side a lot more throughout the remainder of the game, but a cracking strike from Plymouth substitute Seb Campbell brought up number six for the hosts, although Oli Irow’s stoppage-time goal ensured we avoided what would have been our heaviest-ever defeat in the competition.
More to follow…