Argyle made it three league wins in a row with victory against Luton Town at Home Park in Sky Bet League One.
Brendan Galloway scored the game’s only goal on the stroke of half-time, in what was another defensively sound display from the Pilgrims.
Tom Cleverley named an unchanged side from the one that earned a hard-fought victory at Peterborough United last weekend.
This meant that it was Conor Hazard in goal, with a back four ahead of him containing skipper Joe Edwards at right-back, Galloway at left-back, and both Mathias Ross and Alex Mitchell in the centre.
Joe Ralls partnered Malachi Boateng in the centre of midfield, a duo that has performed well in the Pilgrims’ recent games.
January signing Ronan Curtis made his maiden bow at Home Park, Matty Sorinola featured on the left.
Bim Pepple retained his place up-front alongside Lorent Tolaj, the Canadian having scored twice in Argyle’s previous two games.
Cleverley’s side began this game in a similar way to how they started the game at Peterborough, by getting on the front foot and forcing their opponents into mistakes.
They also looked dangerous down the flanks; Sorinola curled an excellent low cross into the penalty area that narrowly evaded Tolaj.
This early momentum was halted when the Greens were forced into a substitution.
Ralls went down innocuously and was unable to continue after a period of treatment. Brendan Wiredu was brought on to replace him after just seven minutes.
This did not get Argyle down; they responded well, in fact, they nearly had the lead when Mitchell headed narrowly wide from a well-shaped Sorinola free-kick.
Former Pilgrim Nigel Lonwijk was on hand to snub another great Argyle move. Tolaj latched onto Curtis’ pass and headed it over Mads Andersen, who was in hot pursuit.
Pepple gained control well and laid it across the box to Sorinola, his effort beat the keeper, but was blocked on the goalline by Lonwijk.
The Greens looked at their best in transition; they were faster to second balls and attacked efficiently down the flanks.
It was the final touch that was missing; this was also the case for Luton, both Gideon Kodua and Nakhi Wells had scuffed shots from dangerous positions that you would expect them to do better from.
Despite this, these chances seemed to give the visitors confidence, and they slowly began to creep back into the game. Kasey Palmer was the next in amber to cause trouble for the Argyle defence when he came close to converting from a corner.
Argyle continued to have chances of their own; they came close from what can only be described as chaos in the box, the ball was seemingly bouncing around for an eternity with nobody able to convert.
The ball just would not go in the back of the net for Argyle, Curtis went on to strike the crossbar after he evaded the challenge of Joseph Johnson and curled an effort beyond Josh Keeley.
However, the deadlock was finally broken by Galloway, a goal that Argyle’s performance certainly warranted.
It came from a corner; Tolaj’s flicked header was spectacularly tipped onto the crossbar by Keeley; however, the Luton keeper was left helpless when Galloway finished acrobatically from close range to give the Greens a one-nil lead.
Cleverley would definitely have been the happier of the two managers coming into the halftime break; his team looked good value for their lead and could have scored more than the one that they had managed.
The chances showed no signs of drying up in the second period, the visitors in search of an equaliser and Argyle attempting to put some breathing space between themselves and their opponents.
Palmer forced a great save from Hazard; he carried the ball well into the final third and came very close to picking out the top-right corner, had it not been for the goalkeeper’s intervention.
It should have been two for the Greens when Pepple picked the pocket of Liam Walsh in midfield and had the goal at his mercy. His strike was dragged narrowly wide of the right-hand post, a real let-off for both Luton and Walsh.
Cleverley’s next change was again an enforced one. First-half substitute Wiredu had picked up an injury, Caleb Watts came on to take his place.
There were last-ditch heroics from Ross to deny Luton a certain goal. Kodua’s cross was met by Shayden Morris at the back post; the latter looked to force the ball over the line, but Ross was on hand to block, an intervention worthy of the exuberant celebration that the Dane produced afterwards.
Another critical intervention was required when Wells raced through on goal and dinked the ball over the onrushing Hazard. Mitchell had read the situation well and collected the ball just before it bounced over the goalline.
Whilst it was great to see such brilliant defending on display, it certainly was not a sustainable way of playing the game, Luton seemed closer than ever to finding an equaliser.
This was perhaps why, with his next substitution, Cleverley opted to switch to a back five; Kornel Szucs replaced Pepple and slotted alongside both Mitchell and Ross, Edwards and Galloway flanked as wing-backs.
Argyle nearly sealed it with less than five minutes left of regulation time. Curtis was set away down the right and played a pass beyond Kal Naismith, into the path of Tolaj. However, Keeley was wise to this and came rushing off his line to claim the ball before the striker had a chance to finish.
The Greens had two further bites of the cherry in second-half stoppage time, Tolaj forced Keeley into a great save from a volley before Watts blasted over the rebound.
Thankfully, these missed chances did not prove to be costly. Luton were unable to muster a leveller, and Argyle ran out one-nil winners.
There were more celebrations from Ross upon the full-time whistle, he wheeled away arms aloft in front of the St Luke's Hospice Lyndhurst Road Stand as the rest of the team piled on top of Hazard.
This meant that it was three consecutive league wins with clean sheets for Cleverley’s side, and they were temporarily into the top ten.
The Pilgrims are back in action on Tuesday night when they face Mansfield Town under the lights at Home Park.
Argyle: 1 Conor Hazard, 2 Mathias Ross, 8 Joe Edwards (capt), 9 Lorent Tolaj, 15 Alex Mitchell, 19 Malachi Boateng, 22 Brendan Galloway, 27 Bim Pepple (6 Kornel Szucs, 78), 28 Ronan Curtis, 29 Matty Sorinola, 32 Joe Ralls (4 Brendan Wiredu 8 (17 Caleb Watts, 54)). Substitutions: 21 Luca Ashby-Hammond (gk), 7 Jamie Paterson, 10 Xavier Amaechi, 14 Ayman Benarous.
Goals: Galloway 45+3
Booked: Ross 45+1, Curtis 54, Boateng 71, Szucs 84
Luton Town: 24 Josh Keeley, 3 Kal Naismith (capt), 5 Mads Andersen, 8 Liam Walsh, 17 Nigel Lonwijk, 18 Jordan Clarke, 21 Nahki Wells, 30 Gideon Kodua, 32 Emilio Lawrence (14 Shayden Morris, 57), 38 Joe Johnson (9 Jerry Yates,77), 54 Kasey Palmer (33 Cohen Bramall, 77). Substitutions: 1 James Shea (gk), 22 Lamie Fanne, 23 George Saville, 28 Christ Makosso.
Booked: Lonwijk 80
Referee: Elliot Bell
