Plymouth Argyle 3
SGS College 0
By Cathal Loughlin
Stroud and South Gloucestershire College footballers have exited the FA Youth Cup with their heads held high following a brave performance at EFL club Plymouth.
The SGS team, who play in partnership with Mangotsfield United to qualify for the competition, headed to Argyle’s 17,000-capacity Home Park for their first-round tie full of optimism.
They clearly heeded head coach Marcus Thatcher’s pre-match warning not to be overawed by the occasion and even though they did not pull off a shock win they were still a great advert for Stroud-headquartered SGS College.
It was a massive game for the students of SGS college as they aimed to be the first student-only side ever to reach the second round of this competition.
The side had already had to come through three preliminary qualification rounds to get to this stage, with two of the games going all the way to penalties.
The visitors came into the game as clear underdogs away from home against a League One outfit but from the off, the team captained by centre-back Isaac Hutchinson, demonstrated the belief that they could take the game to their opposition and give them as good as they’ve got.
The game started well for the visitors and they were the first team to have a chance and it came after they won a free kick but Billy Wimble’s effort sailed high over the Argyle crossbar.
The first chance for the home side came after Tashall Sandu showed his first bit of quality on the right wing and beat his marker but his shot was deflected and went safely into the hands of Jack Sheppard.
The visitors began to take control of the game it came from the very impressive Teagan Finn. Finn got the ball on the right-hand side before finding enough time to find space and cross and it landed perfectly on the head of Frankie Muand but the striker’s header was off-target.
But soon after, Finn was on the ball again and this time it was more impressive work to beat wing-back Jared Bell but his shot wasn’t as good as the dribbling as it went into the stand.
SGS then carved out a good chance when striker Masood Garder showed very good feet just outside the box to find himself one-on-one with the goalkeeper Jack Flower and but he tried to take it round of the keeper but it was stopped.
After a tight, evenly contested 15-minute period, Finn found himself back involved as he did well by the byline to find Seb Campbell but the striker’s attempt on goal only found the side netting.
However, five minutes later, the hosts’ quality told through Tashall Sandu. Sandu picked the ball up 30 yards from goal and drove towards goal until he got to just outside the box and he fired a rocket into the top corner to give Argyle the lead.
That goal seemed to put a real kick in the home side’s step and they nearly made it 2-0 just before the half time interval but an incredible recovery to deny Finn on the counter attack.
For the first 15 minutes in the second half there was a whole lot of nothing apart from injury breaks and substitutions.
The first real chance of the second half came from substitute Kian Burch who found a split-second in the box and that was enough for him to turn and fire towards goal but it went just over the bar and onto the roof of the net.
Less than 60 seconds later, Burch had another chance at a goal but this time his right footed shot had beaten the keeper but didn’t beat the right-side post.
With time running out, SGS had to throw caution to the wind but they were punished for their ambition twice in quick succession.
The first came after fantastic work from Joe Mwaro by the sideline before he fired the ball in and Kian Burch finally got his goal as he prodded Mwaro’s cross to make it two.
Then just over a minute later it was three as fellow substitute James Sharpe curled a beauty first time from distance into the far corner after being put through on a goal behind a tired defence.
The scoreline didn’t reflect the game as a whole as SGS pushed their fine-tuned hosts to their limit and headed back up the M5 beaten but unbowed.
Argyle: 1 Jack Flower (gk), 2 Joe Mwaro, 3 Malachi Davy (12 Toby Maclean, 65), 4 Oscar Dean (capt) (14 Joel Tolcher, 89), 5 Sam Hayman, 6 Toby Haley, 7 Tashall Sandhu, 8 Sam Lord, 9 Frankie Maund (16 James Sharpe, 83), 10 Seb Campbell, 11 Tegan Finn (15 Kian Burch, 57).
Substitutes: 23 Leo McCormick (gk)
Goals: Sandhu 35, Burch 86, Sharpe 89
SGS College: 1 Jack Sheppard (gk), 2 Jacob Goodfield, 3 Jared Ball, 4 Raymond Oppong, 5 Pablo Benitez Dorado, 6 Isaac Comerford (capt) (17 Sam Murray, 77), 7 Keanu Miller (14 Leo Hope, 54), 8 Harry Ford, 9 Masood Garder (18 Guiseppe La Porta, 46), 10 Oscar Sealey (16 Omaree Cox, 60), 11 Billy Wimble (12 Froilan Stella, 87).
Substitutes: 13 Kit Bond, 15 Aran Stevens Wong
Attendance: 377
