Argyle 2
Bullock og 41, Hodges 44

Wycombe Wanderers 1
Oakes 76

A YOUNG Argyle side demonstrated the strength in depth at Home Park by easily overcoming Wycombe Wanderers to progress to the second stage of the League Cup for only the second time in 15 seasons.

Apart from Bobby Williamson's brief recent flirtation with the (relatively) later part of the competition, the high-water mark of the late 20th century was Peter Shilton steering the Pilgrims to round three. Even then, they managed to spectacularly cock things up by losing to lowly Scarborough, with a tie against Arsenal awaiting the winners.

That same calendar year, Argyle had lost 5-1 at Adams Park, which tells you something about something.

The Pilgrims went in at half-time 2-0 up against last season's surprise semi-finalists after goals late in the first 45 minutes from Wycombe's unfortunate midfielder Martin Bullock and Lee Hodges, and generally dominated play.

A late, apparently deflected, goal for the game, but outclassed, visitors from Stefan Oakes - whose dad?aw, forget it - made no difference to the result and really rather skewed the scoreline.

Argyle manager Ian Holloway indulged in a spot of squad rotation, retaining only three of the players who started Saturday's impressive 3-2 Coca-Cola Championship victory at Hull.

All three were in the defence, with full-backs Paul Connolly and Gary Sawyer staying put and Dutch centre-back Marcel Seip captaining the side alongside Krisztián Timár.

The attack that started the cup-tie was the one that had ended the league game at the KC Stadium - Nick Chadwick and the man for whom he laid on the winner, Sylvan Ebanks-Blake - but, of the midfielders, only Hodges had seen action on Humberside, and that as an injury-time substitute.

Scott Laird was called into one of the two central slots for his competitive first-team debut, alongside Luke Summerfield, with Reuben Reid filling the right-wing shot.

Inexperienced it might have been, but Ollie had expressed the view that it was an XI good enough to cope with the Championship, let alone a League Two side. On the basis that you are as good as your bench, it was arguably one of the strongest sides Argyle have ever fielded - with Rory Fallon, Mathia Kouo-Doumbe and Romain Larrieu held in reserve.

Summerfield was the first of the young guns to cock the trigger, cutting in from the left and showing the sort of twinkletoes feet that are obviously in the genes before a low shot forced goalkeeper Scott Shearer to tip the ball around his post.

Laird took up the cudgels with a speculative curling effort from outside the penalty area before Chadwick fired high after astutely latching on to Timár's equally perceptive back-to-front ball.

Another Timár range-finder saw Shearer beaten to the ball by Ebanks-Blake outside his area, but the cover was back before Sylv could leash off a shot.

So the first half continued, pretty well all one-way traffic, but not too sheer in volume. Summerfield sent a long-range free-kick dipping over the Chairboys' bar, before Hodges brought another save out of Shearer with a smart, low, shot.

Despite the number and variety of Argyle's attacks, it was a scrappy own goal that finally separated the two sides just before the interval. Connolly fed Reid, whose determined run ended with Martin Bullock turning the ball past Shearer rather than let it reach Ebanks-Blake, who would undoubtedly have done likewise.

In the few minutes that remained before the interval, Ebanks-Blake hit the post and Hodges rattled the crossbar, the second attempt, from Laird's corner, rebounded down off the woodwork and over the line for the Pilgrims' second. Not a great half, maybe, but a great end to one, certainly.

Having eased into top gear, Argyle came out for the second half on full revs. Laird, Ebanks-Blake and Reid all went close before a mid-match lull. That ended when Ebanks-Blake was denied a deserved goal only by Shearer's late lunge.

Young striker Ashley Barnes became the second Argyle debutant of the night when he was sent on with 15 minutes to go, a move which immediately preceded Oakes' goal, although the two events were not obviously connected.

Even then, the goal changed very little in the flow of the match or the respective, poles-apart, attitudes of the two sides.

Argyle (4-4-2): 23 Luke McCormick; 2 Paul Connolly, 19 Marcel Seip, 5 Krisztián Timár, 18 Gary Sawyer; 27 Reuben Reid (25 Ryan Dickson 63), 20 Luke Summerfield, 28 Scott Laird, 17 Lee Hodges; 9 Sylvan Ebanks-Blake (24 Ashley Barnes 75), 11 Nick Chadwick (14 Rory Fallon 75). Substitutes (not used): 1 Romain Larrieu (gk), 13 Mathias Kouo-Doumbe.

Booked: Connolly 54.

Wycombe Wanderers (4-5-1): 1 Scott Shearer; 4 Russell Martin, 7 David McCraken (capt), 20 Leon Johnson, 18 Craig Woodman; 11 Martin Bullock, 10 Matt Bloomfield, 8 Stefan Oakes, 22 Sergio Torres, 12 Tom Williams (17 Scott McGleish 56), 16 John Sutton. Substitutes (not used): 15 Gary Holt, 19 Jamie Young (gk), 25 Sam Stockley, 31 Andre Boucard.

Booked: Woodman 55, 10 Matt Bloomfield 62.

Referee: Clive Penton (Sussex).

Attendance: 5,474 (225 away).