Report | Argyle 0-3 Sheffield Wednesday
Thirty-five games after Sheffield Wednesday inflicted a four-goal defeat on Argyle to kick the season off, they returned to haunt the beleaguered Pilgrims.
The Owls stopped one short of their opening-day goal tally, but still managed to cruise to a 3-0 win thanks to goals from Callum Paterson and Djeidi Gassama that followed a Nathanael Ogbeta own goal.
Argyle made three changes to the team that had begun the midweek defeat at Hull City, with Ogbeta, Callum Wright and Malachi Boateng coming into the side.
Ogbeta, in at left wing-back, completed a defence that encompassed Maksym Talovierov, Nikola Katic and Julio Pleguezuelo in the centre, and Matty Sorinola on the right, all in front of goalkeeper Conor Hazard.
Boateng joined Darko Gyabi in the heart of midfield, with Wright on the right of a front three, with Bali Mumba on the left and Mustapha Bundu in the centre.
Argyle’s start, it has to be said, was superb – if only briefly. The Greens absolutely powered out of the blocks, with Bundu drawing a save out of James Beadle inside the first 30 seconds with a powerful effort. This was followed by Ogbeta making a burst and having a shot which went wide, and then Sorinola almost getting on the end of a chance when Ogbeta’s ball inside was helped on by Wright’s flick.
That 250 seconds of action, though, was essentially the extent of Argyle’s first-half pressure.
Once Wednesday settled, with the likes of Shea Charles, Barry Bannan and Svante Ingelsson getting on the ball and influencing play, they started to dictate.
Their pressure turned into the opening goal around the quarter-hour mark. Ingelsson ran down the left, and although there were half-hearted Argyle claims that the ball had gone out, play continued. The Swede continued his advance, got the better of Talovierov, and eventually crossed into the centre.
Ogbeta was reaching the ball first, but he had Djeidi Gassama on his tail, and in the end all Ogbeta could do was turn the ball into his own net.
The Owls, tails up, sensed their prey was vulnerable. A slick move down the right saw Gassama, Josh Windass and Ingelsson all involved before Charles received the ball, and struck just wide.
Argyle’s best opportunity since the opening few minutes came from a free-kick from the right. Sorinola’s initial cross was headed away, but the ball was recycled into the centre, where Pleguezuelo tried to loop a header into the far corner, but saw the ball drift off target.
Wednesday got their second just a couple minutes before the break. Just outside the area, Paterson offloaded to Josh Windass and continued his run into the middle. Windass used Ingelsson, who squared into the centre where Paterson had continued, unchecked, and who had the simple task of clipping home.
Miron Muslic, reacting to his team being second best in the first half, made three changes. Off came Ogbeta, Pleguezuelo and Wright, with Tymoteusz Puchacz, Victor Palsson and Ryan Hardie all coming on. Michael Obafemi followed, for Bundu, 15 minutes after the restart. In the intervening period, virtually nothing had occurred.
Not long afterwards, Wednesday added a third, and rendered anything that happened after that point largely moot, too.
The Owls carved their way through Argyle’s centre, with Gassama shrugging off challenges, and lifting the ball beyond Hazard as the goalkeeper advanced.
Perhaps the only positive on a miserable afternoon was the introduction of club captain Joe Edwards, who had not been seen in action since 26 October, as a subtitute, straight after Wednesday’s third.
They should have had a fourth, when a sub of their own, Michael Smith, seemingly capitalised when Katic could not control Boateng’s backwards pass, but Hazard made a really good save to keep the scoreline down.
Smith had another opportunity, in stoppage time, which he put narrowly wide, but the game had been in the bag long, long before that.
Argyle: 21 Conor Hazard, 2 Bali Mumba, 3 Nathanael Ogbeta (17 Tymoteusz Puchacz, half-time), 5 Julio Pleguezuelo (44 Victor Palsson, half-time), 11 Callum Wright (9 Ryan Hardie, half-time), 15 Mustapha Bundu (14 Michael Obafemi, 61), 18 Darko Gyabi, 19 Malachi Boateng, 25 Nikola Katic (capt), 29 Matty Sorinola (8 Joe Edwards, 70), 40 Maksym Talovierov. Substitutes: 31 Daniel Grimshaw (gk), 4 Jordan Houghton, 6 Kornel Szucs, 28 Rami Al Hajj.
Booked: Pleguezuelo 38, Katic 50, Gyabi 75
Sheffield Wednesday: 1 James Beadle, 3 Max Lowe, 6 Dom Iorfa (2 Liam Palmer, 70), 8 Svante Ingelsson (14 Pol Valentin, half-time), 10 Barry Bannan (capt, 4 Nathaniel Chalobah66), 11 Josh Windass (19 Olaf Kobacki, 70), 13 Callum Paterson (24 Michael Smith, 62), 20 Michael Ihiekwe, 28 Ryo Hatsuse, 41 Djeidi Gassama, 44 Shea Charles. Substitutes: 47 Pierce Charles (gk), 9 Jamal Lowe, 16 Ibrahim Cissoko, 18 Marvin Johnson.
Goals: Ogbeta og 15, Paterson 41, Gassama 68, Kobacki 79
Booked: Windass 24, Lowe 29, Beadle 31, Bannan 32
Attendance: 16,981 (1,727 away)
Referee: Ben Toner
