United were defeated in a six-goal thriller under the lights at Brunton Park in the third round of the FA Youth Cup against Plymouth Argyle.
The first chance of the game fell United's way after two minutes. Dan Hopper drove forward at the Argyle defence, before linking up with Freddie O'Donoghue who cut it back to Hopper in the box, prompting an excellent save from Daniel Holman.
After 15 minutes, Trent Chapman found O'Donoghue at the near-post, but his effort went into the side-netting.
Four minutes later, Thomas Randall was called into action, as he quickly got down to his left to stop the visitors from opening the scoring.
Randall would then produce another brilliant save to deny Jensen Ireland's header from close range soon after.
On 35 minutes, O'Donoghue was played through by a defence-splitting pass from Simon Rigby, but under pressure from the Argyle defender, he dragged his effort wide.
Five minutes before the break, United broke from an Argyle corner through James Murray. He found Jamie Hodgson on the left, who attempted to find an unmarked O'Donoghue charging into the box, however the cross was overhit and gathered by Holman.
HALF-TIME: United 0-0 Plymouth Argyle
United began the second-half in similar fashion to the opening exchanges of the first-half. Chapman nicked it off a Plymouth man before finding Jonah Lowes, who weaved through multiple challenges, but was unable to test Holman.
United's first substitution of the game came just before the hour-mark, as James Murray was replaced by Lewis Lambert.
On 66 minutes, Plymouth were awarded a penalty after Rigby brought Cole Fisher down in the box. Fisher stepped up and converted to give the visitors the lead.
Amongst the Plymouth celebrations, United made a second change which saw Amaru Smith come on in place of Rigby.
Three minutes after the Plymouth's opener, United drew level through Dan Hopper. Lowes picked up possession in his own half, before playing Hopper in behind the high Plymouth defensive line, who made no mistake placing it into the bottom corner.
On 79 minutes, United took the lead through substitute Lewis Lambert. Dan Hopper skipped past three Argyle defenders before finding Lambert, whose first effort was blocked, but made no mistake the second time as he placed it past a helpless Holman to give United a 2-1 lead.
With two minutes of normal time remaining, Plymouth equalised. After Chapman fouled his man on the edge of United's box, Harry Shield stepped up to take the free-kick and found the bottom corner to make it 2-2.
FULL-TIME: United 2-2 Plymouth Argyle
Mark Birch made his third change at the beginning of extra-time as Will Hatton replaced Jamie Hodgson.
Six minutes into extra-time, Plymouth retook the lead. A cross from the left was palmed out by Randall, but to the feet of Sebastian Campbell who fired the ball into the roof of the net to give the visitors a 3-2 lead.
On 98 minutes, Hayden Atkinson headed over from a Lowes corner. Moments after, Tai Bell replaced Bobby Skinner.
One minute later, Shield continued to cause problems down the left-hand side and fired a ball across the box, which fell to the feet of Kian Burch, who directed his effort wide.
HALF-TIME (ET): United 2-3 Plymouth Argyle
On 111 minutes, the visitors were down to 10 men, following a second bookable offence from Burch.
With three minutes of extra-time remaining, United thought they had an equaliser. Lambert fired the ball across the six-yard-box, which was met by Reuben Towers, who made no mistake from close range, but the assistant referee had raised the flag for offside.
In the final moments of the game, Plymouth sealed the win through Frankie Bond. Following a United corner, the visitors cleared and broke away through Bond who ran half the length of the pitch before finishing past Randall to make it 4-2 and end the Blues' run in this season's competition.
FULL-TIME (AET): United 2-4 Plymouth Argyle
Goals:
United: (Hopper 69'), (Lambert 79')
Argyle: (Fisher 67'), (Shield 89'), (Campbell 96'), (Maund 120')
Teams
United: Randall (GK), Chapman, Hodgson (94' Hatton), Skinner (99' Bell), Porter, Atkinson, Murray (58' Lambert), Lowes, O'Donoghue, Rigby (66' Smith), Hopper (105' Towers)
Unused subs: Sillitoe (GK), Fleming
