'Angry' to 'very pleased' - Tom Cleverley on Argyle against Newport

It was an outcome which leaves the Pilgrims top of Southern Section Group E, a point above Newport and two clear of Crystal Palace under-21s, with their third and final game to come against Swindon Town at Home Park next month.

Cleverley made 10 changes to Argyle's starting line-up at Newport from the 2-0 League One win away to Leyton Orient at the weekend, with 17-year-olds Seb Campbell and Jared Rendle both in the team.

It was Newport who opened the scoring with a terrific strike from Kieron Evans in only the third minute and Yahya Bamba later put them 2-0 up in the 59th minute with a twice-taken penalty, after he double-touced the ball on his first attempt.

That was followed immediately by a trio of Argyle substitutions, with Wes Harding, Oli Irow and Bim Pepple all sent on, and then followed by the introduction off the bench of Bradley Ibrahim and Harvey White in the 72nd minute.

All those changes paid off for the Pilgrims as, first, Pepple slotted home his seventh goal of the season in all competitions in the 75th minute before Tyreeq Bakinson equalised in the 90th.

Pepple then had a chance to win the tie deep into added time with a penalty, but that was saved by Newport goalkeeper Shaun MacDonald and the group stage game finished all square before going to the shoot-out.

Cleverley told Plymouth Live: "I think you could sum that up in two interviews, to be honest. An angry one and a very pleased one.

"The first hour was lacklustre, it lacked quality. We made a lot of technical mistakes, and you will never get me finger pointing at people but when the application is not there around it then we didn't look a very good football team.

"The mentality of not wanting to lose is important. We have only lost one of our seven or eight, and the mentality of the players that finished the game I thought was excellent.

"The understanding around what made us effective in that last 25 minutes is more intensity, more urgency in our movements, more penetration, more structure around their box to make sure we sustain attacks, and something we will need going into Saturday (the League One game against AFC Wimbledon at Home Park on Saturday."

With Pepple named among the substitutes and Will Evans rested, it was Caleb Watts and Campbell who led the Argyle attack at Rodney Parade.

Pepple replaced Watts in the 60th minute, with Irow making a big impact wide on the left and Harding taking over in central defence from Mathias Ross.

Cleverley said: "If I'm looking at the top line you have got Caleb, who likes to play off somebody, and Seb. They are two guys who like to play in the pockets.

"You can still be much more sharper than we were, get the ball from one side to the other quicker and then maybe you can penetrate on the floor.

"We looked like we were a good yard or two off in everything we did first half. I don't blame the young players for that, it's a big step up.

"I think the more experienced ones around that could have helped with their voices, their intensity, their messaging, their demands."

A much-changed Argyle side had eased to a 5-1 victory over Crystal Palace under-21s at Home Park a fortnight earlier but this was a much tougher challenge.

Cleverley said: "With all respect to Crystal Palace under-21s, this is much more like what we are going to face in League One, coming here this evening, I thought they (Newport) were a good test.

"They were the better team for an hour and this is more the marker from where those non-starters are. It is difficult when you make so many changes.

"I thought they were outstanding (against Palace U21s) so it's not all negative, but this evening was a wake up call for us in terms of what makes us effective as a team and what are we as a team, which the players should hear in their sleep now.

"It's difficult to deliver physically but I'm very simplistic with the messaging and there was no application of that for parts of the game tonight."

It looked like Argyle were destined for defeat when Bamba gave County their 2-0 lead with his twice-taken penalty. Cleverley said: "There's a few rules I have learned tonight and maybe the referees need to be better explaining to us as managers.

"I didn't know you could take as long as you want at a free-kick. I'm sure we have had a couple of free-kicks counted down this season from winning positions.

"And the retaken penalty, I'm 99 per cent this is sure, but if that had missed after a double touch it would have been an indirect free-kick to us, but because he scored with the double touch he got to retake the penalty."

On Pepple's penalty to win the game in the sixth minute of stoppage time being saved, Cleverley said: "It was a good advert for the Jersey Mike's (the competition sponsors), adding to the drama, so it has had a bit of everything this evening and it has finished on a positive note for us after a good response."

Cleverley thought given the standings in the group it would take 'a minor miracle' for Argyle not to at least finish in the top two and therefore qualify for the round 32 of a competition in which they were quarter-finalists in 2025/26.

"We are pleased, we want to progress, we want to go further than we did last year," said Cleverley. "We want to get to Wembley and step by step we will get closer, but now the focus really does turn back to the league and Wimbledon on Saturday."

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