Argyle 0

Peterborough United 3
Mackail-Smith 62, 75, McLean 78

ARGYLE were their usual hospitable selves again, allowing yet more visitors to Home Park leave with something more than just memories of their Bank Holiday weekend trip to the Westcountry.

It is now mid-March since Argyle won a game on their home turf (or turfs, to be accurate), when they beat a Bristol City team managed by a soon-to-be-sacked Gary Johnson.

Johnson, now with Peterborough United, has had his revenge since then. Twice.

On the last day of last season, his latest club won 2-1 with two headed goals from striker Craig Mackail-Smith; two games, a new division, and a new Argyle manager later, Mackail-Smith again scored twice as Peterborough's free-scoring attack ran riot.

Arron McLean added a third to rub salt into the Pilgrims' wounds and give Peter Reid much to contemplate and work on -against Tuesday's transfer deadline -in the two weeks until Argyle visit Colchester United, having not won since the opening day of the season.

Reid has already shown himself unafraid to ginger up his selection when prompted by an unconvincing performance, and he again demonstrated this trait for the Pilgrims' second home League 1 game of the season.

He made four changes to the starting 11 that was beaten 2-1 at Walsall seven days earlier and, even though two of those were forced upon him, none of the switches could reasonably have been predicted.

Two were by dint of circumstance, captain Carl Fletcher having been sidelined by a pulled leg muscle and Kári Árnason by the questionable red card he received in the final minute at the Bescot.

Fletcher's positional absence was covered by Chris Clark, while Karl Duguid came into the defence. Duguid nominally replaced Árnason but actually lined up at right-back, with Bondz N'Gala shuffling into the centre of the defence.

Alongside N'Gala was the first of Reid's two decisional changes, Réda Johnson having replaced Krisztián Timár. The other was on the right side of midfield, where Craig Noone completed the quartet of call-ups making a first league start of the season.

Conversely, Peterborough fielded exactly the same 18 that had knocked Cardiff out of the Carling Cup in midweek, their second impressive result at London Road in four days, having come from two goals down to beat Huddersfield 4-2 last weekend.

Indeed, in four home games this season, Posh have racked up 13 goals. Argyle's pre-match hope was offered by the result from their one away game - a 5-1 thrashing by Bournemouth.

The injection of pace at front and back was evident from the off: Noone proved a tricky customer down the Boro left - when referee Andy Haines was not making a nonsense of the advantage rule - while Johnson and N'Gala's long strides helped the Argyle back line contain the busy Mackail-Smith and MacLean.

With Onismor Bhasera similarly bringing the Pilgrims up the pitch on the left-hand side, there were no obvious early signs of the anxiety that has plagued Argyle's mentality at Home Park for so long.

Had centre-back Kelvin Langmead's powerful header from a corner been a foot inside the post, rather than the other way, the jitters might have returned, however.

Noone, though, was playing with a gay abandon and certainly looking as likely as any to make a breakthrough. He tried his luck from the edge of the penalty area in the face of backpedalling opponents, but failed to make goalkeeper Joe Lewis work.

Argyle never looked more dangerous than when they upped the tempo, and Bhasera, Dean Parrett and Lee Molyneux were all prominent in mercurial breaks from their own half. Their best chance of breaking the deadlock came when Parrett slipped in Molyneux for a left-foot shot that the left-back dragged just wide, left of Lewis's left-hand, naturally.

Molyneux's fellow full-back Duguid lived up to the second half of his surname with a precision tackle on Aaron Davies that prevented, if not a goal, then certainly a goalscoring opportunity that his manager, his team-mates, and about 7,000 people inside Home Park would have expected him to take.

Argyle carried their purpose through to the opening stages of the second half and fashioned another chance when Noone's ball from deep over the top dropped into the stride of Parrett, breaking from midfield like David Friio used to, who took a touch but fired wide of Lewis's near post.

The best chance of the game fell to Mackail-Smith, although 'fell' rather underplays the skill of the Peterborough forward in taking Seth Ofori-Twumasi's pass on the full in his stride, checking inside N'Gala, and firing off a shot in one fluid movement. The shot was the least effective part of the difficult manoeuvre.

Shortly afterwards, Davies was replaced by Nathaniel Mendez-Laing, meaning that Peterborough had three players with double-barrelled surnames in their 11 - not for nothing, it seems, are they known as the Posh.

One of them, Mackail-Smith, claimed the all-important go-ahead goal, although the angle of Duguid's run back to defend Grant McCann's floated free-kick, and the power with which the ball beat David Button suggested that the Argyle defender had more than a slight touch.

Argyle responded positively and Noone, their brightest forward on the afternoon, came close to equalising when he stole in at the far post to head Parrett's left-wing corner goalwards, only for the ball to hit Lewis just short of the goal-line.

That was as close as Argyle got to getting something out of the game. Something apart from a metaphorical smack in the face, that is.

Mackail-Smith thumped Tommy Rowe's long crossfield pass home with relish, before McLean made up about a foot on Johnson to head home McCann's corner.

On the subject of heading home, that third goal was the cue for many of the Green Army to do just that.

You could not blame them.

Argyle (4-4-2): 31 David Button; 2 Karl Duguid, 3 Bondz N'Gala, 5 Réda Johnson, 34 Lee Molyneux (29 Jim Paterson 89); 17 Craig Noone, 6 Chris Clark, 36 Dean Parrett (21 Anton Peterlin 76), 15 Onismor Bhasera; 8 Rory Patterson, 16 Joe Mason (32 Steve MacLean 71). Substitutes (not used): 1 Romain Larrieu (gk), 20 Luke Summerfield, 23 Krisztián Timár, 35 Curtis Nelson.

Booked: Noone 35.

Peterborough United (4-4-2): 1 Joe Lewis; 22 Seth Ofori-Twumasi, 4 Kelvin Langmead, 16 Ryan Bennett, 14 Tommy Rowe; 21 Aaron Davies (19 Nathaniel Mendez-Laing 56), 7 James Wesolowski, 11 Grant McCann, 10 George Boyd (), 24 Lee Tomlin 79); 9 Arron McLean (15 Dave Hibbert 79), 12 Craig Mackail-Smith. Substitutes (not used): 5 Gabriel Zakuani, 6 Charlie Lee, 17 Carl Piergianni, 23 Steve Collis (gk).

Booked: Ofori-Twumasi 32.

Referee: Andy Haines.

Attendance: 7,712 (274 away).

Rick Cowdery