Plymouth Argyle vs Hull City

Sat 4th May

Kick-off 12:30

PLY Argyle

HUL Hull

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The Game   
Argyle v Hull City. Home Park. Saturday, 4 May. 12.30pm. Sky Bet Championship.  

The Permutations
If Argyle win, they will secure Sky Bet Championship football for next season.

If Argyle draw, they will stay up should Birmingham City draw or lose at home to Norwich City.

If Argyle lose, and Birmingham lose, Argyle will stay up.

If Argyle lose and Birmingham win, Argyle will be relegated.

If Argyle lose and Birmingham draw, Argyle will stay up provided they do not lose by five or more goals.

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If Hull lose or draw, they cannot make the play-offs.

If Hull win, they can reach the play-offs if West Bromwich Albion lose their home game against Preston, OR if Hull’s winning margin and a Norwich City losing margin is eight goals combined.

The Opposition  
Hull City are seventh in the Championship, two points outside of the play-off positions. They have 19 wins, 13 draws and 13 defeats from their 45 games, and have occupied a similar position in the table for most of the campaign.

The middle part of the season was one extreme or another. After drawing five of their opening 11 games, Hull drew just one of the next 23. In their last 12 games, the Tigers have drawn seven, losing just two.

Most recently, Hull have been involved in two very open games. A 3-2 win on the road at Coventry City was followed by a 3-3 draw at home to promotion contenders Ipswich Town.

The Gaffer  
Son of ex-West Ham United forward and former Torquay United boss Leroy, Liam Rosenior had a playing career which included spells at Fulham, Reading and Brighton and Hove Albion, among others. He also represented England Under-21s. 

His longest stint with a club was the five years he spent at Hull between 2010 and 2015. In 2022, he would return to Humberside to become Tigers manager. He had previously spent time as a coach and then interim manager at Derby County. 

Taking over at the MKM Stadium in November, Rosenior steered Hull to 15th place in the Championship last season. 

The Squad  
England Under-21 international Jaden Philogene signed for Hull City on deadline day last summer, on an undisclosed fee from Aston Villa. The 22-year-old winger, originally from London, played a small number of games for Villa and had loan spells with Stoke City and Cardiff City. He has scored 12 goals in 32 games this season.

No-one has started more games for Hull this season than Alfie Jones. The central defender has lined up in all but one of the Tigers’ 45 league games, scoring one goal. Jones is a product of Southampton’s youth system, from whom he had loans at St Mirren and Gillingham. In 2020, he moved to Hull, and is now approaching 150 appearances for the club.

Experienced Cote D’Ivoire international Jean-Michael Seri (above) is a regular fixture in the heart of the Hull City midfield. He began his career in his homeland, at ASEC Mimosas, and moved on to Portuguese top-flight side Pacos de Ferreira. He spent three seasons in France with Nice, before moving to the Premier League to play for Fulham. His time in West London was split around time on loan with Galatasaray and Bordeaux. He moved to Hull in the summer of 2022 and has played 75 times for the Tigers, 38 of those appearances this season. He has 56 caps for his country.

Earlier This Season   
The sides met at the MKM Stadium in late September. Argyle took the lead via Adam Randell, who fired home after Bali Mumba’s shot had been palmed away by goalkeeper Ryan Allsop. Regan Slater’s equaliser just before half-time meant the points were shared.

Tickets  
If you have a season ticket and cannot attend the match, you can make your ticket available via the Ticket Exchange and receive face value credit if your ticket is resold.  Find out more about the Ticket Exchange.  

Argyle TV  
Commentary for the game will be provided by Charlie Price and Ian Stonebridge.  

Argyle TV’s pre-match show, hosted by Alex Wood and former Argyle defender Marc Edworthy, will begin at 11.30am and is available to watch for free on YouTube.  

Match passes to watch this game, wherever you are in the world, can be purchased   here. 

Argyle 1
Edwards 40

Hull City 0

It was written in the Pilgrim stars.

Captain Joe Edwards, a leader in every sense, scored the goal that confirmed Argyle will remain in the Sky Bet Championship next season. The skipper’s header, five minutes before half time, ensured a 1-0 victory was enough to avoid the drop.

The Pilgrims knew they needed to at least match the result of Birmingham City, who also won 1-0, but this day belonged to the Greens.

Argyle made two changes from the 1-0 loss at Millwall last weekend, Alfie Devine and Ryan Hardie coming in for Ben Waine and Brendan Galloway.

Despite the pressure of the situation, both sides opened with attacking fluency, Jaden Philogene forcing Dan Scarr into a solid early defensive block before a lovely exchange between Bali Mumba and Musthapa Bundu culminated in the former in having a shot deflected wide.

Fabio Carvalho demonstrated his threat with a dart into the box and Michael Cooper was swiftly off his line to narrow the angle for an important save. The Greens replied with Morgan Whittaker shaping a shot on his unfavoured right boot that flew narrowly over Ryan Allsop’s crossbar.

Home Park, meanwhile, was bouncing!

Devine and Hardie worked space for Whittaker to unleash a snap-shot, well saved by Allsop. Argyle were the side in control, Whittaker threading a super pass for Hardie, who was just crowded out for a corner.

Hull remained a menace on the counter, Liam Delap forcing another decent low save from Cooper. Argyle then had to make a change, Bundu limping off with a muscle injury to be replaced by Callum Wright.

It took just three minutes for the new man to make a monumental impression, delivering a perfect cross for captain Edwards, surging into the box from the right, and the skipper planted a fabulous header beyond an exposed Allsop.

The Green Army erupted, with Argyle 45 minutes away from safety. Hull made two changes at the break but one of the Tigers left on the pitch, Philogene, whipped a clever strike toward the near post and another accomplished save from Cooper.

Wright and Edwards attempted a repeat of their first-half trick, this time the skipper inches away from the floating cross, and then a Whittaker drilled delivery evaded everyone as it swept past the far post.

Whittaker had another attempt blocked as news filtered in that Birmingham had taken the lead at home to Norwich, cranking up the tension a few more notches. Hull’s play-off dream, by contrast, was fading away with news that West Brom were well clear against Preston.

If Hull had little left to play for, Argyle had everything.

It was agonising stuff but the Green Army maintained their roar. Philogene, however, remained a serious danger, fizzing a low cross into the penalty area and the Greens were mighty relieved to see the ball drift away to safety.

Argyle continued to seek out a decisive second, Mumba and Wright working the ball beautifully down the left, with the latter stabbing a volley narrowly wide. Waine, Galloway and Adam Forshaw replaced Hardie, Devine and Mumba for the final knockings off a long season, and the tension inside Home Park was beyond unbearable.

Scarr found a massive header to clear a Lewie Coyle cross before a Whittaker free-kick almost escaped the grasp. Hull, despite knowing the play-off dream was over and to their excruciating credit, were still striving for a leveller, such is the wonderful honesty of competition in the EFL.

The last few minutes were pure agony but we had done it, Argyle are staying in the Sky Bet Championship.

Argyle: 1 Michael Cooper; 2 Bali Mumba (22 Brendan Galloway 83), 6 Dan Scarr, 8 Joe Edwards (capt), 9 Ryan Hardie (23 Ben Waine 79), 10 Morgan Whittaker, 15 Mustapha Bundu (11 Callum Wright 37), 16 Alfie Devine (27 Adam Forshaw 83), 17 Lewis Gibson, 20 Adam Randell, 26 Ashley Phillips. Substitutes (not used): 21 Conor Hazard (gk), 4 Jordan Houghton, 5 Julio Pleguezuelo, 29 Matthew Sorinola, 35 Freddie Issaka.

Booked:

Hull City: 17 Ryan Allsop; 4 Jacob Greaves (capt), 5 Alfie Jones, 7 Ozan Tufan (50 Abdulkadir Omur H-T), 15 Tyler Morton (12 Billy Sharp 78), 20 Liam Delap (9 Noah Ohio H-T), 23 Jaden Philogene, 24 Jean Michael Seri, 27 Regan Slater (2 Lewie Coyle 60), 29 Matty Jacob (3 Ryan Giles 60), 45 Fabio Carvalho. Substitutes (not used): 1 Matt Ingram (gk), 6 Sean McLoughlin, 8 Greg Docherty, 10 Adama Traore.

Booked:

Referee: Darren Bond

Attendance: