Plymouth boss Lowe praises teenage striker Luke Jephcott after win at Scunthorpe
Posted Sunday, January 05, 2020 by PA
Plymouth boss Ryan Lowe hailed the impact of rookie striker Luke Jephcott after the teenager marked his return from a loan spell at non-league Truro City by scoring twice as Argyle beat Scunthorpe 3-1.
The 19-year-old set the Pilgrims on the road to victory in the 12th minute and after Byron Moore put the visitors 2-0 in front early in the second half, Jephcott capitalised on a mistake by Scunthorpe keeper Jake Eastwood to wrap up a hard-earned victory.
“We had a debate about whether to start Luke when we brought him back and again last night,” Lowe said.
“He’s still been training with us every couple of days when he hasn’t been in at Truro and he’s been different class – he’s listened and learned.
“When that’s the case, why wouldn’t you give him a chance?
“While he’s been away he’s scored plenty of goals. Yes it’s at a different level, but it’s what we’ve been missing, so I wanted to get him back in the building.
“It’s a small pitch here and we thought we could get at Scunthorpe down the sides with a bit of movement and so we thought ‘let’s throw him in’.
“He didn’t bat an eyelid when he saw he was in the team. I told the other boys to look after him and it’s a good sign for us as a team that they did that.
“I’ve said to the strikers to make sure they learn lessons from today because we’ve been reliant on a 19-year-old to put the ball in the back of the net.”
Jephcott got in front of his marker to sweep in a cross from George Cooper, who also claimed an assist with Plymouth’s second, finished at the far post by Moore.
An already tough task for the Iron became even harder six minutes later when Eastwood spilled a shot from Danny Mayor and Jephcott was well-placed to fire home.
Kevin van Veen pulled a goal back for the hosts in the 65th minute, not long after being introduced from the bench, after which Plymouth repelled a spell of Iron pressure to claim three points.
“Not for the first time this season, I think we’ve played worse and won,” Scunthorpe boss Paul Hurst said.
“It’s a game we had more than enough of for me to be standing here talking about a positive result.
“I’ve seen a lot of Plymouth this season, but I’ve never seen them have as little of the ball as they had today.
“I know it’s the result that matters, but what I have to do is not throw my toys out of the pram and give an opinion that I don’t really mean.
“We made two bad mistakes for the goals in the second half and gave ourselves a mountain to climb.
“If you concede three goals, you’re not going to win many games, but overall I can’t be too critical of the performance.”
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