Ashley Phillips and Darko Gyabi earn Ian Foster praise after Plymouth Argyle debuts
The Pilgrims’ head coach gave the two on-loan teenagers their debuts in the 1-1 Championship draw away to Huddersfield Town
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Ian Foster had no doubts about starting Plymouth Argyle’s two new teenage loan signings Ashley Phillips and Darko Gyabi in the 1-1 away Championship draw with Huddersfield Town.
Phillips, 18, lined up on the right side of the Pilgrims’ defensive trio at the John Smith’s Stadium while 19-year-old Gyabi, who trained with his new team-mates for the first time only two days earlier, slotted into a central midfield role.
To put such inexperienced players straight into the starting line-up might have been seen as a gamble by some, but head coach Foster had full faith in them and the performances of Phillips, in particular, and Gyabi justified that.
Both players have come through the England age group teams so Foster knows them well from his time working as a coach for The Football Association.
Foster said: “If you were coming to the game without knowing them I don’t think you would think they were making their debuts, and I don’t think you would think they were both teenagers.
“I have said before I don’t look at birth certificates when I pick a team. I know these players. I trust these players. What has been great is that the rest of the group made them feel incredibly welcome during the week.
“It was never in doubt for me that they are ready to start. The doubt was probably how much of the game they could get through. “The difficulty is sometimes when you sign these players is how much game time have they had at their parent club. They get caught between the devil and the deep blue sea in terms of being in the first team group and not playing (under) 21s football.
“Sometimes even the 21s games don’t prepare you for what’s to come so I was pleased with how they handled the game, how they handled the atmosphere. “I was pleased with how brave they were in possession and that 90 minutes-plus will do them the world of good in terms of getting them physically ready for what’s to come.” Considering the lack of game time for both Phillips and Gyabi this season it was impressive both were able to come through the full 90 minutes-plus against Huddersfield.
