Plymouth 1-1 Rovers
Thursday 23rd January 2015Our U-18 side played out a 1-1 draw against Plymouth Argyle yesterday in a match that Youth Team Manager Alan Walsh felt they had the edge.
Having taken a first half lead through Elliott Green, they had to settle for a point after Jason Vincent equalised for the home side.
The draw extended the side’s unbeaten run to nine and Alan had this to say afterwards; “Argyle are second in the league and so it was an excellent result for us especially in view of the fact that we had to leave the Memorial Stadium at 8.00am and spend three hours travelling down to Plymouth.
“The game was played on a very good 3G pitch but the lads adapted well and in quite an even first half, during which both sides played some good football, we took the lead after half an hour.
“A corner into the box saw the ball cleared as far as Connor Jones who decided to take a shot. To be honest, it was going quite wide of the target, but hit Alfie Kilgour and was diverted back into the penalty area where Elliott Green was on hand to slot it into the net.”
Not for the first time this season, though, his side failed to put away any more of the chances they created in that opening half and in the opening exchanges of the second period.
“Don’t get me wrong, Plymouth also had chances to score but we were the team in the ascendancy at the start of the second half and took the game to them.
“Plymouth’s U-15 goalkeeper Michael Cooper played very well and kept them in the game at times, but if we had taken a few more of the opportunities we created then we would have won the game quite comfortably.
“However our defence, which had been solid all the way through, made a costly mistake with 20 minutes remaining. I can only describe it as a lapse of concentration that allowed a cross to come in from the right where Jason Vincent beat Kieran Preston to earn his side a point.”
Rovers: Kieran Preston, Tyler Lyttle, Tom Fry, Harrison Trueman, Alfie Kilgour, Connor Jones, Elliott Green, George Corp (Bradley Confrey, 75), Blake Davies, Mitch Palmer, Ryan Broom
Substitute: Cameron Clarke
The U-18’splay their final South West Youth Alliance game against Portsmouth at the Memorial Stadium tomorrow (kick off 11.00am).
Starting next month, the side will move on to compete in Merit League Two and fixtures for the remainder of the season will be published once they are announced.