Plymouth Argyle proved too strong for Bristol Rovers U18s, running out 6-1 winners at SGS on Saturday morning.
A hat-trick from Cole Fisher and goals from Jared Rendle and Harley Sneap condemned Bobby Mckenzie-Black’s side to defeat, with Kian Hill's strike for the Gas proving to be a consolation.
The match began frenetically as both sides, guilty of exchanging several errant passes, battled for early possession. However, Plymouth slowly began to assert their dominance.
Their left-footed right winger Tegan Finn looked like causing Rovers the most problems, combining well with Fisher to find repeated joy in the half-spaces. It was the Pilgrims who landed the first punch when Kian Burch was able to evade a number of challenges down the left-hand side before cutting back to an unmarked Cole Fisher in the penalty area, and he swept home past Jaydon Bishop to make it 1-0 to the away side.
While captain Charlie Moody and Hill came close to an equaliser for the Gas, it didn’t take Plymouth long for one goal to become two as Fisher struck again.
This time, from a set-piece, the away side’s number seven curled the ball spectacularly from 25 yards out beyond the clutches of Bishop, doubling their advantage in the 35th minute.
Hill came closest to halving the deficit for The Gas, beating three players with some mazy dribbling before lashing a thunderous strike against the post. Agonisingly for the Gas, the woodwork came to Argyle’s rescue again only 30 seconds later, as Will Turner hit the crossbar with a speculative effort from range.
At 2-0, Rovers went into halftime with work to do, but Plymouth showed no sign of letting up in the second half. Fisher picked up where he left off, cutting in from the left flank to deliver a wicked ball into the danger area, which was fumbled by Bishop, allowing an onrushing Rendle to pounce and calmly tap it home.
Plymouth, not satisfied with just the three goals, were unrelenting in their pressure, while the Gas found it difficult to execute their counters with much precision.
Hill threatened to make things interesting ten minutes before the full-time whistle, smashing home a half-volley from range, albeit aided by some poor handling by Dan Holman in the Plymouth net.
Any remaining sense of optimism was fleeting, however, as substitute Randell doubled his goal tally straight after the restart, bundling home into an empty net again after Finn's header ricocheted off the post and fell perfectly into his path.
Sneap made it a fifth soon after before Fisher crowned a good morning's work with his third, a panenka from the spot, to condemn the Gas to a 6-1 home defeat.
Bristol Rovers: Bishop, English, White, Moody, Sutherland, Edwards, Cadette, Toogood, Cole, Hill, Turner.
Substitutes: Moggeridge, Savage, Sughayer, Odumboni, Buckle.
Plymouth Argyle: Holman, Mward, Shield, Sneap, Ireland, Sullivan, Fisher, Lord, Burch, Finn, Poole.
Substitutes: Flower, Wamani, Dean, Rendle, Hayman
