Argyle 0

Swansea City 1
Scotland 44

THE irony will not have been lost on Argyle's kilt-wearing Dundonian manager Paul Sturrock that a man called Scotland deprived the Pilgrims of what is becoming an increasingly anxiously-sought first win of the season.

Jason of that ilk netted for Home Park's Welsh visitors just before half-time to condemn Argyle to a first home defeat.

The result might have been a less bitter pill to swallow had it not been for a baffingly esoteric decision from referee Andy D'Urso to disallow what looked - even after several zillion Sky replays - a perfectly good goal from Marcel Seip, early in the second half. 'Esoteric', by the way, is a polite way of saying what good taste prevents me from writing.

Sturrock had made one change to the 11 that had started out seven days earlier at the Madejski Stadium on the way to a 2-0 defeat.

That was in the van of a 4-4-2 line-up, where Jamie Mackie made way for Steve MacLean to partner Rory Fallon: an ex-Cardiff player and a former Swansea man in harness.

With ex-Ninian Parkers Chris Barker and Simon Walton on the pitch, and Jermaine Easter, another striker with Bluebirds' connections - on the bench, there was plenty of ammo for visiting Jacks.

Swansea, too, made one change to the 11 that paved the way for a victory over Nottingham Forest at the Liberty the previous week, with the splendidly-named Angel Rangel coming into the defence in place of Matt Collins.

Scotland - after a Barker ring-type problem with his Alice band (there is a sentence I never though I would write when I started this lark 25 years ago) - led their attack in a 4-5-1 stylie.

Swansea made the first inroads when Mathias Kouo-Doumbe's misplaced pass - familiar to the Green Army as a 'Matty Moment' - invited Darren Pratley to buy a ticket for the long-range lottery.

Graham Stack dealt comfortably with that, as he did with a similarly ambitious dipping, swerving strike from Ferrie Bodde, who later extended the Pilgrims' man of the match against Wolves in their previous home game with a curling free-kick.

Argyle's muscular approach, with Luke Summerfield, Fallon and Walton, in particular, getting niggly with it, did not faze Swansea and made for wincing watching.

Swansea's five always seemed to have a man to spare over Argyle's four (er, um..hang on) with the result that the Pilgrims spent less time in their opponents' half than they did in their own.

Opposition manager Roberto Martinez had said, preceding the game, that Argyle were "a team waiting to click" and he must have been grateful that the wait had apparently been extended by another week.

Even more so that his own players connected with some aplomb a couple of minutes before half-time, Scotland exchanging passes with Pratley before sliding in to slip the ball past Stack.

Luggy had appealed in the Pilgrim match-day programme for the Green Army to support his on-field battalion but, judging from the jeers that greeted referee Andy D'Urso's half-time whistle, his exhortation had not been heeded.

Argyle emerged for the second half a changed side - Fallon widish on the left, Chris Clark tucked in, Walton withdrawn - and with a changed attitude.

They were deprived of a goal when D'Urso made a howlingly awful decision to deny Seip a second successive home goal, heading home Summerfield's left-wing corner, seeing something nefarious only in his own mind.

There was no appeal from any Swansea player, who, to a man, were apparently readying themselves for a restart.

All occasions are seemingly conspiring against the Pilgrims these days. If referees want respect, as the current advertising campaign would have it, they had better not have D'Urso front the crusade.

Thanks to D'Urso, the momentum and initiative remained with Swansea, and Argyle showed little in the way of wresting it from them.

Mackie and Easter replaced Fallon and MacLean midway through the half, but the Swans sailed serenely through the rest of the half without ever getting into a flap.

Argyle (4-4-2): 21 Graham Stack; 2 Karl Duguid (capt), 13 Mathias Kouo-Doumbe, 19 Marcel Seip, 15 Chris Barker; 7 Jason Puncheon, 4 Simon Walton, 20 Luke Summerfield (16 David McNamee 60), 6 Chris Clark; 9 Steve MacLean (25 Jamie Mackie 70), 14 Rory Fallon (10 Jermaine Easter 70). Substitutes (not used): 3 Jim Paterson, 5 Krisztián Timár.

Booked: Summerfield 14.

Swansea City (4-5-1): 1 Dorus de Vries; 22 Angel Rangel, 16 Garry Monk, 2 Ashley Williams, 3 Marcos Painter; 11 Mark Gower, 6 Ferrie Bodde, 7 Leon Britton, 8 Darren Pratley (14 Jordi Gomez 73), 28 Tom Butler; 9 Jason Scotland (18 Gorka Pintado 77). Substitutes (not used): 5 Alan Tate, 12 Febian Brandy, 23 Guillem Bauza.

Booked: Britton 49.

Referee: Andy D'Urso (Essex).

Attendance: 9,203 (559 away).

Rick Cowdery

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