Argyle 2
Gallagher 20, Mackie 59
Reading 2
Pearce 22, Kebe 80
IF every point is a prisoner, then Argyle's bid to escape relegation saw another banged up after an enthralling game in front of ITV's cameras.
The Pilgrims have now taken points off Wolves, Reading and Sheffield United in their a run of four unbeaten matches. There are not many clubs that can say that this season.
Paul Gallagher fired Argyle ahead from close range after 20 minutes, converting Ashley Barnes' delightful set-up to register his fifth goal in four games.
Reading quickly regained parity through centre-back Alex Pearce's header, who subsequently saw another header cleared from the line by Gallagher.
Jamie Mackie put the Pilgrims ahead again just before the hour with a superb individual strike, and Argyle held on to the lead for 20 minutes.
Then Mali, with ten minutes to go, international Jimmy Kebe slotted a shot between the legs of Romain Larrieu.
Argyle manager Paul Sturrock had made just one change from the starting line-up that had beaten Watford 2-1 at Home Park the previous Tuesday and that had been forced upon him by circumstances.
Left-back Chris Barker sat out proceedings because of personal, non-footballing, reasons, so Gary Sawyer was called into the back four
Reading started the match with the 11 that had finished their 2-1 midweek victory against Sheffield Wednesday, ending a run of four games without scoring.
The three substitutes at Hillsborough - midfielders Jimmy Kebe and Kalifa Cisse, and forward Shane Long - came in, instead of Jay Tabb, Brynjar Gunnarsson, and Noel Hunt.
On a by now familiarly scarred Home Park surface, made slick by the dreich atmosphere, neither side made any headway in the opening quarter of an hour.
Argyle sparked briefly after the stalemate, orchestrated by some feisty tackles in the middle of the field by David Gray and Carl Fetcher that set Alan Judge off on another of his heads down runs.
That drew a foul, and a yellow card, from Liam Rosenior, and got the Pilgrims' dander up.
Spurred on, they took the lead with a fine set-piece goal, Barnes beating centre-back Pearce to Sawyer's floated delivery from deep for a header that teed up Gallagher for a close-range volley that looked more simple to convert than it probably was.
Argyle's inability to counter Reading's own precision set-pieces and exact crossing had cost them dearly at the Madejski in August, and they were soon haunted by the ghosts of late summer.
First, Pearce gained revenge for being duped by Barnes when he steered a sweetly-placed header from Marek Matejovsky's left-wing cross past Larrieu for an equaliser within three minutes of his defensive mistake.
Then Pearce nearly doubled his contribution when Stephen Hunt, provider of both of the Royals' goals in the 2-0 win in Berkshire, dropped a corner, this time from the right flank, on to the former Southampton defender's head.
Larrieu was well beaten again, but Gallagher showed that his intuition for being in the right place at the right time is not limited to attack by heading the ball off the goal-line from by the right-hand post.
Argyle's defence was further changed after 25 minutes, when Craig Cathcart limped out of proceedings to be replaced by Krisztián Timár.
Argyle were the more industrious, Reading the more measured, and the Royals came close to taking the lead when Kevin Doyle was allowed to turn in the six-yard box. His shot was saved by Larrieu, who still needed the assistance of Gray to keep out Hunt's follow-up.
The Pilgrims were obliged to use the second of their substitutes at the interval, when Gallagher, who was a busted flush during the final minutes of the Watford game, failed to re-emerge from the dressing-room. Rory Fallon took his place.
Whichever way you looked at it, Argyle were up against it: two of their top men back in the hutch and mizzle, which had mutated into wind-borne rain, right in their faces.
They stayed level thanks to a marvellous reflex save from Larrieu after another Hunt corner caused problems. This time, it was Pilgrims defender Marcel Seip who connected with the cross - ducking in to the delivery - the ball squirting off his shoulder and back towards his own goal.
Larrieu instinctively stuck out his right paw and clawed the ball away, off a post, for a corner.
Reprieved, Argyle took the lead in the most magnificent fashion.It belonged in its entirety to Mackie, who picked the ball up from a breakdown around about the centre-circle and strode purposefully towards goal.
The Devonport end will barely have ever seen a strike as sublime as the one which followed. Without breaking his gait, Mackie lashed the ball past goalkeeper Adam Federici with such power and placement that the Royal's Australian custodian was beaten all ends up.
The force was with Argyle, and they caused Federici further concern when Fallon broke free and fired in a low shot that the 'keeper spilled.
Fallon then pounced to steer a shot under Federici's body, only for the effort to be ruled out by the linesman's flag for a borderline offside.
Reading bounced back emphatically, laying siege to the Barn Park end and came close, when Kalifa Cisse hooked a shot against the crossbar, but no cigar.
It needed stout hearts and legs at the back and none were stouter than those of Fletcher, whose defensive qualities were much in evidence in his own penalty area.
Argyle remained firm until the 80th minute, when Czech Matejovsky's dinked pass down the right flank fell for Kebe, who took the ball into the Argyle penalty area and converted with a low shot through Larrieu's legs.
The remaining minutes saw Argyle largely on the defensive. Matejovsky continued to cause problems and came close to setting up Long.
They did break out occasionally, however, and Karl Duguid ended a period of pressure with a curling shot that failed to trouble Federici.
A point gained.
Argyle (4-4-2):1 Romain Larrieu; 33 David Gray, 22 Craig Cathcart (5 Krisztián Timár 25), 19 Marcel Seip, 18 Gary Sawyer; 25 Jamie Mackie, 28 Carl Fletcher, 2 Karl Duguid (capt), 23 Alan Judge (3 Jim Paterson 79); 11 Paul Gallagher (14 Rory Fallon half-time), 24 Ashley Barnes. Substitutes (not used): 17 Craig Noone, Luke Summerfield.
Reading (4-4-2): 32 Adam Federici; 22 Liam Rosenior, 26 Alex Pearce (23 Andre Bikey 68), 29 Michael Duberry, 3 Chris Armstrong;14 Jimmy Kebe, 4 Kalifa Cisse (15 James Harper 81), 7 Marek Matejovsky, 10 Stephen Hunt; 9 Kevin Doyle, 24 Shane Long. Substitutes (not used): 1 Marcus Hahnemann (GK), 11 Noel Hunt, 37 Jay Tabb.
Booked: Rosenior 16.
Referee: Tony Bates (Staffordshire).
Attendance: 14,014 (1,444 away).
Rick Cowdery
