Youthful Pompey '“ but there's been younger teams

Kenny Jackett was forced to dig deep within his squad and pluck out a team possessing an average age of 22.5 at Fleetwood.
Jed Wallace and Dan Thompson make their debuts at Plymouth in 2012Jed Wallace and Dan Thompson make their debuts at Plymouth in 2012
Jed Wallace and Dan Thompson make their debuts at Plymouth in 2012

Yet that is still considerably older than the one rolled out at Plymouth in August 2012.

During Tuesday night’s 2-1 win at Highbury Stadium, Christian Burgess was the oldest player at 26, with 21-year-old Matt Clarke serving as skipper.

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It represented only a second win of 2018 for a squad hampered by injury and unavailability. However, for a Capital One Cup clash five-and-a-half years ago, Pompey named a starting line-up with an average of just 19.9.

In the process, seven players were handed senior debuts for Michael Appleton’s side in the Home Park encounter.

During the dark days before the fans rescued the club, the summer of 2012 saw Pompey remove all senior players from their books.

With joint-administrator Trevor Birch forced to slash the wage bill to ensure the Blues remained in existence, David Norris, Tal Ben Haim, Greg Halford, Liam Lawrence, Dave Kitson, Erik Huseklepp and Luke Varney all departed.

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All that remained were players from the Academy – plus youngsters Adam Webster and Ashley Harris, who had featured for the first team.

With Balram Chainrai and Levi Kushnir dragging out their purported takeover, Appleton didn’t possess the finances to recruit.

Instead, he turned to nine homegrown teenagers for the visit to Plymouth in the opening fixture of the 2012-13 campaign.

The final two spots were filled by 35-year-old coach Ashley Westwood and non-contract keeper Simon Eastwood.

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Meanwhile, a three-man bench included 16-year-old Jack Whatmough, who was the only substitute not used.

Still, there were debuts for man-of-the-match Jed Wallace, Alex Grant, Dan Butler, Sam Magri, George Colson, Andy Higgins and Dan Thompson.

Even then, Westwood was forced off with injury on 34 minutes, handing Jack Maloney a Pompey bow.

Regardless of their age disadvantage, the Blues youngsters produced an admirable display, with two goals in the final four minutes giving the 3-0 scoreline an unfair reflection.

Days later, Birch allowed Appleton to sign an entire new team of players, albeit on month-to-month deals.