Lowry on 'topsy-turvy' Under-18s win

Jamie Lowry described his Under-18s side’s final home game of the season, which ended in a 6-2 win for the Young Pilgrims over Northampton, as ‘topsy-turvy’.

That might be an understatement. Argyle were 2-0 down after 13 minutes of the game, with Ollie Evans and Neo Dobson on target for the Cobblers. By the half-hour mark, Argyle had turned it around, and were in front. Cole Fisher got one back, Fletcher Poole equalised, and then Fisher scored again to cap an incredible opening 30 minutes.

There were no more goals until the final quarter of the game, when Fisher got another two, either side of a Sam Lord goal.

Although the majority of the action came from the eight goals throughout the tie, some fell on the actions of the referee. Northampton had two players sent off, one being goalkeeper Elliott Smith, which Argyle took advantage of.

Head Coach Jamie Lowry was delighted with the performance as a whole but admitted his side could have utilised the major advantage more in the final stages of the tie by being even more ruthless in front of goal.

“It was a topsy-turvy game,” Lowry told Argyle TV. “We conceded two early goals from being in possession, losing it and not transitioning well enough. We got back in the game with some fantastic goals in the first half and the boys passed the ball really well. It was great to have the first-team training pitch to play on and we utilised the great surface. 

“In the second half, they lost their way a little bit and got players sent off and then we were in control of the game after that. Football is always about ups and downs and different things happening. From our point of view, after the first two goals, we were the dominant team and really in control of the game throughout.

“The performance was really good, overall. Those two little moments let us down, giving the ball away and then conceding, but apart from that, I don’t think Dan [Holman] had any saves to make. 

“Our biggest Achilles heel has been where we've played well or had strong moments in games and not got ourselves in front, punished teams and then we get punished at the opposite end. The boys came back, were fantastic for the remaining 78 minutes of the game, and had control.

“The only little disappointment was probably, when they did go down to nine men, we wanted a bit more ruthlessness to score more goals!” 

Fisher’s quartet of goals pleased Lowry, and all staff present at the game, with the Argyle Head Coach stating his delight for the midfielder’s performance.

He said: “I’m really pleased with Cole. He has got lots of ability and I think it was nice for him as well. I know he gets frustrated sometimes with the pitches we play on because he's a technical player, so it was nice for him to show his quality and be involved in five goals.” 

With the result, it means Argyle have only lost one game at home all season and sets up a chance to end the season on a four-game unbeaten run when facing Cambridge United on Saturday, 26 April, away from home.

Lowry said: “Only one defeat all season at home is really good for us. We want to try to go back-to-back, and the boys set the standard today. The performance was very good in the previous match against Sutton, but not the result we wanted, so now we want to finish on a high with a good result and performance at Cambridge.”