Argyle 1
Easter 60
Charlton Athletic 2
Lita 64, 77
IF this was D-Day, Charlton proved to be Argyle's Omaha.
Two goals gifted to Leroy Lita, after Jermaine Easter had given the Pilgrims the lead against a side reduced to ten men for all but the first three minutes, proved their downfall.
Argyle manager Paul Sturrock had made three changes for Home Park's biggest game of the season, bringing in a couple of big guns in Krisztián Timár and, more surprisingly, Rory Fallon, as well as midfield ferret Jimmy Abdou.
New Hungarian international Timár replaced Marcel Seip, the Dutch defender moving from the centre of defence which suffered a 3-1 reverse at Coventry seven days earlier to nowhere - Mat Kouo-Doumbe was the preferred defensive option on the substitute's bench.
The Frenchman, like Fallon, was making a quicker than expected return from injury. Then, again, at this stage of the season, there's no time to ease players back, no nicey-nicey.
Steve Mac Lean was dropped to the bench for Fallon, suggesting a return to the tactics that had earned four points against Bristol City and Watford, and Chris Clark was the sacrifice for Jimmy.
Charlton manager Alan Pardew opted for a narrow approach, axing both wingers that had done duty in the previous Saturday's home 3-2 Sylvan Ebanks-Blake inspired defeat by Wolves.
Darren Ambrose and Jerome Thomas both started on the substitutes' bench, with Chinese play-anywhere midfielder Zheng Zhi and Lee Cook receiving a call-up.
In the absence of cold-victim Andy Gray, the attack was led by the little and large partnership of Lita and Chris Iwelumo.
The game got off to a sensational start with Charlton reduced to ten men and forced to blood a former Academy goalkeeper within three minutes of the kick-off.
The two events were, of course, connected, with Charlton's number one Nicky Weaver receiving a red card for one of those rush-of-blood moments that seem the particular preserve of goalkeepers.
Having misjudged the bounce of a windswept ball from an Argyle punt straight down the middle, Weaver found himself a couple of yards outside his penalty area. No matter, he had three defenders for close company and no Pilgrim presented a real threat to goal.
Why, then, did he make a futile swipe at the ball with his right hand, leaving referee Iain Williamson with no option but to reach for his back pocket and show the red card?
Young Rob Elliott was thrust into his first Championship game, but not his first league action. The custodian has spent loan spells at Doncaster and Accrington, creating such an impression with the Lancashire club that he won the Owd Reds' player of the year award last season.
Ten-man Charlton reorganized, but kept their two up front, and Argyle found it difficult to make as much headway as their crowd was expecting, not least of all because of the Addicks' immediate recourse to time-wasting tactics. It was not long before Zheng was booked for running down the clock. In the 24th minute.
A long-range pot from captain Paul Wotton, which had Elliott scrambling across his goal, was brilliantly executed and went close, but won no coconut.
The slow-slow nature of the game was not helped by when an injury to Sam Sodje saw Madjid Bougherra make a return from the bench after a lengthy injury. Nor by the flattening Bougherra suffered immediately when Elliott clattered into him to deal with Paul Connolly's cross. Welcome back, Madjid.
Fallon tried to break the deadlock with an ambitious, but impressive, chest-trap and volley that was not too far off the mark.
With referee Williamson declining to book another Charlton player for their nefarious tactics - tactics that paid dividends when only four minutes of time were added on to a first half that must have lasted only about 30 minutes - Argyle were getting no favours.
Just before the interval, Charlton came close to getting a further gain from their gamesmanship when, in their first attack of the half, Lita forced Luke McCormick into a fantastic point-blank save.
McCormick's goal was under attack early in the second half, when Bougherra headed Matt Holland's free-kick narrowly over, underlining the delicate balance of the contest?and what was at stake for the losers.
Jimmy should have eased the nerves and put the Greens ahead after Fallon's beautiful cushioned header found the Frenchman in acres of space. He took a touch, which proved fatal as the ball sat up a little too much and his too-high shot was profligate in the extreme.
Moments later, Easter showed him how to finish, sweeping home from close range after Gary Teale had headed down another cross from wide, this time provided by Gary Sawyer's overlap.
Suddenly Charlton wanted to play and drew level within four minutes when McCormick caught the mood of the day by coming for Ben Thatcher's flolated free-kick, missing it and having to watch with the rest of us as Zheng headed the ball on for Lita to nod home.
With 15 minutes of the 90 left, Luggy sent on MacLean and Jamie Mackie but the brave move backfired almost immediately when Lita pounced on another mistake by McCormick, who let a header from Chris Iwelumo through his hands, to score from a yard.
Even Mackie's ability to sniff out half a chance could not rescue the Pilgrims, Elliott snuffing out his opportunist strike in injury-time to deny a play-off lifeline.
Game over.
Argyle (4-4-2): 23 Luke McCormick; 2 Paul Connolly, 5 Krisztián Timár, 21 Russell Anderson, 18 Gary Sawyer (25 Jamie Mackie 75); 7 Gary Teale (9 Steve MacLean 75), 26 Nadjim Abdou, 15 Paul Wotton (4 Lilian Nalis 82), 3 Jim Paterson; 14 Rory Fallon, 36 Jermaine Easter. Substitutes (not used): 6 Chris Clark, 13 Mathias Kouo-Doumbe.
Booked: Wotton 67, Anderson 76.
Charlton Athletic (4-4-2): 1 Nicky Weaver (gk); 25 Greg Halford, 4 Sam Sodje (21 Madjid Bougherra36), 6 Patrick McCarthy, 3 Ben Thatcher; 5 Zheng Zhi, 23 Jose Semedo, 8 Matt Holland, 7 Lee Cook (31 Rob Elliott (gk) 3); 16 Chris Iwelumo (12 Luke Varney 88), 38 Leroy Lita. Substitutes (not used): 11 Darren Ambrose, 14 Jerome Thomas.
Sent off: Weaver 3.
Booked: Zheng 24, Iwelumo 54, Bougherra 62, Elliott 69.
Referee: Iain Williamson (Berkshire).
Attendance: 14,715 (976 away).
