Argyle obtained their first victory of the season with a comfortable win over Bradford City at Home Park.
The Greens scored just before, and just after, the break, with Julio Pleguezuelo steering in a volley to make it 1-0, and Harvey White striking from outside the area to double the lead early in the second period.
Bradford, who came into the game as the only team to have won both league games this season, and who had not conceded in any of their four competitive fixtures, never truly threatened, and Argyle ran out deserved winners.
Following their inclusion on Tuesday night against Coventry City in the Carabao Cup, new recruits Oliver Irow and Tyreeq Bakinson retained their places in the line-up. Alex Mitchell was also included, having missed a couple of game with a troublesome knee.
Mitchell was paired with Pleguezuelo in the middle of a back four that had Wes Harding to the right and Alex Hartridge to the left, with Murphy Cooper behind them in goal. Irow started on the left of a four-man midfield, with Ronan Curtis to the right, and Bakinson and White in the centre. Will Evans and Bim Pepple played as the front two.
It was a busy opening to the game. Only just over a minute had been played when Bradford forward Jake Beesley was booked for a dangerous challenge, and moments later White made a crunching tackle – a fair one – but stayed down afterwards. There was concern, and a fair amount of treatment, but White was able to continue. The signific
Bradford had the better of the opening quarter-hour, with former Pilgrim Macaulay Gillesphey nodding wide from a worked corner and Josh Neufville arriving at the far post but rushing his effort. Argyle had moments of their own, notable when Mitchell could not quite get enough on a bouncing ball in the area, and when Pepple headed over from a Harding cross.
Mitchell then missed a glorious opportunity, on 17 minutes, when engineering the room to get on the end of a sumptuous Curtis cross, but heading over.
Argyle had increasingly come into the game, and it was another set-piece from which the next big chance arrived. A right-wing corner from Curtis reached Mitchell, whose attempt at a volley was charged down. It fell to Evans, but his shot flew over.
On 36 minutes, Bradford should have taken the lead. Three Argyle defenders looked at each other hoping the other would deal with a ball near the halfway line, but City’s Kayden Jackson was positive, and got their first. With Argyle dragged, Jackson squared to Will Swan, who got a toe-ender to the ball as Cooper dove at his feet. The ball ended up beating the goalkeeper, but dribbling wide.
Argyle took the lead on the cusp of half-time through Pleguezuelo’s well-taken goal. It began with a throw-in on the right-hand side, which Hartridge came across to take, seemingly to sling it in the area. Instead, he went short, to Irow, who crossed into the middle. Aden Balwdin’s header did not get much air, falling only to Pleguezuelo, who hit a controlled volley from around 12 yards into the bottom corner.
At the interval, Bradford made two changes, perhaps indicating how well Argyle had dealt with their potential threats. City withdrew their two ‘number 10s’, Swan and Jackson, replacing them with Bobby Pointon and Adam Phillips.
It was the Greens, though, that struck next. Bakinson, who had been industrious throughout, did enough to win a ball back around 45 yards out, and it fell to midfield partner White. White advanced, reaching close to the edge of the area before pinging a left-footed effort which, with the help of a small-but-friendly deflection en route, nestled in the corner.
Argyle fancied another, and Curtis forced a good save from goalkeeper Jon McCracken with a well-hit effort from distance.
The Pilgrims felt that there was a call for a penalty when a Baldwin tackle got the ball but cleaned out Evans at the same time. Your view on this would probably be defined by a) if you were wearing green-and-white or claret-and-amber, and b) your year of birth, as it was a challenge that a couple of decades ago was indisputably a good one, whereas more modern sensitivities may think otherwise.
Argyle’s first substitution – Bradford had made four by this point, to shake things up – came bang on 70 minutes, with Xavier Amaechi replacing Irow. Bradley Ibrahim followed, on 84 minutes, for Pepple, and Argyle had done an excellent job in the interim of controlling the game.
Not always with the ball; naturally, Bradford had more of it as the Greens got a bit deeper, and the visitors sought a way back in, but it always felt like Argyle had the Bantams at arms’ reach.
In fact, Argyle had a chance to make it 3-0, on the break, where Ibrahim played a good ball to release Evans, who teed up Curtis, but as he came back inside, was tackled by a recovering defender.
Caleb Watts was brought on in the last minute of the game in the place of Curtis.
Argyle are next in action on Tuesday night, as they head to Leicester City.
Argyle: 1 Murphy Cooper, 5 Julio Pleguezuelo, 7 Harvey White, 9 Will Evans, 11 Ronan Curtis (17 Caleb Watts, 90+2), 14 Oliver Irow (10 Xavier Amaechi, 70), 15 Alex Mitchell, 19 Tyreeq Bakinson, 22 Alex Hartridge, 27 Bim Pepple (23 Bradley Ibrahim, 84), 45 Wes Harding (capt). Substitutes: 21 James Storer (gk), 8 Joe Edwards, 26 Tegan Finn, 29 Matty Sorinola.
Goals: Pleguezuelo 44, White 50
Bookings: Harding 33
Bradford City: 21 Jon McCracken, 3 Ibou Touray, 5 Macaulay Gillesphey, 6 Callum Connolly, 7 Josh Neufville, 9 Jake Beesley (25 Nick Powell, 63), 10 Antoni Sarcevic (capt), 15 Aden Baldwin, 19 Kayden Jackson (8 Adam Phillips, half-time), 24 Will Swan (23 Bobby Pointon, half-time), 28 Matt Pennington (2 Reece Welch, 64). Substitutes: 1 Cameron Dawson (gk), 16 George Pratt, 20 Henry Cartwright.
Bookings: Beesley 2, Connolly 88
Attendance: 15,494 (891 away)
Referee: Carl Brook
