The first draw of Argyle’s season came at home to Wigan, as they and the Greens managed one goal – and one point – each.
The two sides came into the game in adjacent positions in the table, separated only by a marginally better goal difference for the Latics. In a staccato affair at Home Park, still neither asserted any superiority.
It was Argyle who took the lead with 20 minutes of the game remaining, from a Lorent Tolaj penalty, but Fraser Murray hit back to make it 1-1 on 83 minutes, and so the match stayed.
Argyle made two changes for the game, both enforced. Bradley Ibrahim, a midfield driving force in recent weeks, picked up his fifth booking of the season in last weekend’s 4-0 win at Burton Albion, so was suspended. In his place came Tegan Finn, slotting in as part of a midfield three, with Law McCabe the deeper of the trio, and Malachi Boateng to the left.
Defender Alex Mitchell was unavailable for personal reasons, and was replaced by Brendan Galloway, who joined Mathias Ross and Brendan Wiredu in the back three, in front of Conor Hazard, who once again captained the team.
Bali Mumba and Matty Sorinola continued as wing-backs, and Lorent Tolaj and Owen Oseni were once again the front pair.
To say that the game had a bit of a cold start may mislead you into the notion that it ever warmed up. On a notably windy day, both teams looked decidedly under the weather, and the opening exchanges lacked punch.
Argyle rattled the frame of the goal with a sumptuous corner routine on 17 minutes. It had been earned with the slickest move they had performed to that point, down the left flank, and was taken by Finn. He rolled low to the near post, to McCabe, who played a ball backwards into space deeper in the area. It was a vacuum that Tolaj had his eye on, snuck into, and from which he hit a shot on the turn which thundered into the crossbar.
Wigan’s best chance to that point came at the midway point of the half, with Jensen Weir clipping a superb ball into the centre which was met by Fraser Murray, but the midfielder put it over the bar. He really should have done better, and his frustration was possibly still bubbling when he caught Galloway with a late challenge a minute later, and went into the book for it.
After a slow start, Argyle were picking up, and Boateng in particular was finding more and more dangerous positions. He headed on a long throw to Tolaj, who hit the side-netting, and not long afterwards was picked out in the area by a Mumba slide-rule pass, only to angle a shot wide.
The game had, however, descended into scrappiness. Dissatisfaction with decisions was rife, and a contributing factor to the stop-start nature of the game, but a good spot by the officials gave Argyle a chance as the half-time whistle approached.
Sorinola had been making an advance down the right, well off the ball, but was hauled down by Luke Robinson. The transgression was spotted, a free-kick awarded, and Tolaj curled an effort not too far off target.
In truth, the first half had been a bit of a dud. Perhaps the tempestuous conditions did not help, but there was a distinct lack of quality on the part of both sides. The hope was that things may improve post-interval.
Ten minutes into the second period, it was clear that this was not the case, so Tom Cleverley made a change. McCabe was withdrawn, Boateng was asked to drop a little deeper, and Jamie Paterson was introduced for a little nous and experience.
Argyle were having the better of the second period, certainly territorially, but chances were not frequent, nor were they glaring. It was starting to become a game that both teams would be viewing as one to just get through, and nick something if you could.
Cue a penalty award that was far from clear-cut, but may go some way to balance out the shocker that befell Argyle at the same end, the Babcock Devonport End, a few weeks ago.
On that occasion, the decision to award a penalty to Stockport for something barely qualifying as innocuous did not down as well as, well, the Stockport player.
This time, certainly on initial observations, it seemed that Tolaj and former Argyle defender Will Aimson collapsed together in a heap. Referee Ben Atkinson gave the penalty, and Tolaj got set to take aim.
He placed the ball, took a breath, reared back his left leg for maximum power – and then clipped in the cheekiest of ‘Panenka’ penalties, putting Argyle in front.
The lead, though, lasted about a dozen minutes. Argyle had already lived dangerously in terms of clearing their lines, and eventually Wigan made them pay. A couple of half-clearances went up and into the wind, and when the ball returned to earth Wigan threaded in Murray, who blasted home.
Argyle had a couple of late half-chances, most notably Wiredu heading over from a corner, but in the end both sides probably got the result they deserved.
Argyle: 1 Conor Hazard (capt), 2 Mathias Ross, 4 Brendan Wiredu, 9 Lorent Tolaj, 11 Bali Mumba, 18 Owen Oseni (27 Bim Pepple, 71), 19 Malachi Boateng, 20 Law McCabe (7 Jamie Paterson, 55), 22 Brendan Galloway, 29 Matty Sorinola, 39 Tegan Finn. Substitutes: 21 Luca Ashby-Hammond (gk), 14 Ayman Benarous, 24 Caleb Roberts, 35 Owen Dale, 41 Seb Campbell.
Goals: Tolaj pen 70
Booked: Oseni 30, Mumba 65
Wigan: 1 Sam Tickle, 4 Will Aimson, 5 Steven Sessegnon, 6 Jensen Weir, 7 Fraser Murray, 9 Christian Saydee, 15 Jason Kerr (capt), 17 Matt Smith, 19 Luke Robinson (44 Jospeh Hungbo, 74), 21 Raphael Borges Rodrigues (20 Callum McManaman, 90, 31 Ollie Cooper (10 Paul Mullin, 74). Substitutes: 30 Toby Savin (gk), 27 Tobias Brenan, 37 Maleace Asamoah, 48 Jack Rogers.
Goals: Murray 82
Booked: Murray 24, Smith 32, Robinson 41, Aimson 69, Sessegnon 78
Attendance: 16,062 (431 away)
Referee: Ben Atkinson
