Goals from Oliver Irow, Ronan Curtis and Bim Pepple saw Argyle earn a convincing 3-0 victory at Home Park against Barnsley.
Irow put the Pilgrims ahead within just 30 seconds of kick-off through a powerful, curling strike from outside the box that nestled into the top-right corner.
Midway through the half, Curtis doubled the lead with a header from close range, capitalising on a mistake from Barnsley goalkeeper Rogan Ravenhill.
Just five minutes after half-time, Pepple added a third to Argyle’s tally for the afternoon. The striker received Harvey White’s pass on the left side of the penalty area, before dribbling past Connor O’Riordan and producing a powerful right-footed strike across goal into the top corner.
Head Coach Tom Cleverley named an unchanged starting 11 following last Saturday’s 3-2 win at Doncaster Rovers.
This meant that Murphy Cooper once again played behind a back four of Wes Harding, Alex Mitchell, Julio Pleguezuelo and Matty Sorinola. Irow and Curtis played on the flanks, with White and Tyreeq Bakinson in the centre. Pepple was once again joined by Will Evans up front.
Barnsley had clearly won the toss, forcing Argyle to play towards the Babcock Devonport End in the first half, and into a strong wind, but Argyle scored almost immediately.
Cooper sent forward a long ball, Argyle battled for the scraps, and Pleguezuelo neatly played out to Irow. The on-loan wideman took a superb first touch, and then unleashed an unstoppable drive into the top corner, which Cleverley described later as the best goal he has seen at Home Park.
Nine minutes into the match, Barnsley’s Sam Gale found himself on a yellow card after unfairly bringing Evans down 30 yards from goal.White narrowly fired over the crossbar from the resulting free-kick, as Argyle’s early dominance continued.
Pleguezuelo made several first-half challenges to prevent the Barnsley attack from getting near Cooper’s goal, most notably a sliding challenge to deny Patrick Kelly from within the 18-yard box.
It was Argyle who made it 2-0, though, with Curtis scoring his first goal of the season. Harding launched a long throw, which goalkeeper Ravenhill came for, and spilled, with Curtis acting quickly to nod home.
Both Pleguezuelo and Harding had chances to extend Argyle’s lead from set pieces, and the Greens eased into the break comfortably.
Barnsley, however, opted to make three changes at half-tme after struggling to compete with Argyle in the first half. Luca Connell, Amani Richards and Ben Hamed Toure all entered the pitch, replacing Reyes Cleary, Jonathan Bland and Makenzie Kirk.
The Tykes started slightly brighter, but the first big chance of the second half fell to Pepple, who made it count in style.
The Canadian forward, back to goal, wriggled his way around O’Riordan and thrashed a shot into the roof of the net to make it 3-0.
The visitors thought they pulled a goal back on the hour mark, until referee Martin Woods blew his whistle to award Argyle a free-kick.
Cleverley then opted to utilise his bench, replacing goalscorer Curtis and Alex Mitchell with Owen Oseni and Mathias Ross.
Ten minutes later, club captain Joe Edwards made his return to Sky Bet League One action, his first league appearance of the season.
Edwards was greeted with a standing ovation as he replaced Matty Sorinola, while Bradley Ibrahim also came on for Bakinson. In the 80th minute, last weekend’s winning goalscorer Caleb Watts entered the field in place of Irow.
Barnsley spent the majority of the final quarter of the game on the front foot, but Argyle contained them well, and kept a welcome clean sheet.
The referee’s whistle at full-time was greeted with loud cheers from the Green Army, who witnessed a second consecutive home win, and a third league win in four games.
Cleverley’s side will be looking to build on this result when they travel to face Blackpool next Saturday in a 3pm kick-off at Bloomfield Road.
Argyle: 1 Murphy Cooper, 45 Wes Harding (capt), 5 Julio Pleguezuelo, 15 Alex Mitchell (2 Mathias Ross, 63), 29 Matty Sorinola (8 Joe Edwards, 73), 11 Ronan Curtis (18 Owen Oseni,63), 19 Tyreeq Bakinson (23 Bradley Ibrahim, 73), 7 Harvey White, 14 Oliver Irow (17 Caleb Watts, 80), 9 Will Evans, 27 Bim Pepple. Substitutes: James Storer (gk), Xavier Amaechi.
Goals: Irow 1, Curtis 21, Pepple 50
Cards: Ross 76, Evans 80
Barnsley: 25 Rogan Ravenhill, 11 Tyrese Noslin, 6 Connor O’Riordan, 4 Sam Gale, 2 Arley Kay, 30 Jonathan Bland (48 Luca Connell, half-time), 8 Cameron McGeehan (capt), 36 Luke Alker (13 Clayton Taylor, 71), 22 Patrick Kelly, 19 Reyes Cleary (17 Amani Richards, half-time), 9 Makenzie Kirk (10 Ben Hamed Toure, 46). Substitutes: Kieran Flavell (gk), Jack Shepherd, Leo Farrell.
Cards: Gale 9, Noslin 90
Attendance: 15,743 (548 away)
Referee: Martin Woods
