Argyle’s play-off aspirations took a serious dent as Bolton Wanderers, with ten men for over half of the game, won 2-1 at Home Park.
The game was 0-0, late in the first half, when John McAtee was sent off for violent conduct, but Bolton took the lead shortly after the break with a Johnny Kenny penalty.
Argyle equalised, through Ronan Curtis, and it seemed they had turned the momentum, but Bolton scored again, a goal credited to Sam Dalby, and Argyle never got their legs under them again to find a leveller, never mind a winner that would have craved.
Neither side, coming into this fixture, had played for almost two weeks. When last in action, Argyle had beaten Huddersfield Town 3-1, and made just one change to the starting line-up from that game. Herbie Kane, who was unable to play against Huddersfield, his parent club, returned, to take up a spot alongside Malachi Boateng in the centre of midfield.
Flanking them were Ronan Curtis and Owen Dale, with Bim Pepple and Owen Oseni playing as a front pair. The defence, marshalled by goalkeeper Conor Hazard, comprised Joe Edwards, Mathias Ross, Alex Mitchell and Jack MacKenzie.
The game started at a fair clip, with both sides looking to attack. Bolton’s first foray was a run down the left and a dangerous low cross by winger Thierry Gale, which Mitchell blocked and Hazard gratefully dived onto.
Soon enough, though, Argyle got on top. During the first half an hour, most of the action saw the Greens on the front foot.
There were two seriously good chances. One came following excellent work off the ball by Dale, who won a tackle and came away with the ball. A couple of passes later, Kane was clipping through to Curtis, who took the ball down brilliantly just inside the area, but could only blast against a spreadeagled Jack Bonham in the Bolton goal.
The other big opportunity came from Curtis blocking an attempted long ball from the back, and the ricochet spinning to Oseni, but he was unable to lift the ball over Bonham.
Towards the end of the half, Bolton started to show signs of turning the tide. Kenny had a shot on the turn which went harmlessly over, then the same player crossed to Gale, who completely misdirected a header from a good position.
However, Bolton’s flow was halted when they had McAtee sent off. A long ball from the Trotters was destined for Mitchell’s head, when McAtee steered himself in front of the Argyle defender, and caught him with a stray arm.
At half-time, Bolton tweaked, bringing on Chris Forino for Gale, and the thought, you have guessed would have been to sit in, frustrate Argyle, and take a goalless draw.
Not so. In trying to block a ball in the area, Ross steered it with his arm, and the officials between them gave a penalty. Kenny scored it, firing low and into the corner, and Bolton now had even more to protect.
For the next five minutes, the ten men looked more likely to get a second than their numerically superior hosts to notch an equaliser. Steadily, though, Argyle got on the ball, and started to try to pressure the Wanderers.
Just as Argyle looked set to make a triple sub to underline their intentions, they equalised.
After Bolton could not clear a corner, the ball ended up with Kane, who played a superb, flicked ball into the area, where Curtis received the ball and struck home on the turn, in one movement.
The triple change turned into a double, with Lorent Tolaj and Wes Harding coming on for Oseni and MacKenzie, and the decibel level coming on a treat.
Argyle were always going to get chances, and they had the time, it was just about finding one that could be converted. Tolaj got one, in the position he craves, inside the area, but as he jinked past one defender, he showed a bit of understandable ring-rust, and was caught on the ball before getting a serious shot away.
Next, Curtis laid a pass beautifully into Boateng’s path on the right, and his near-post low cross was flicked wide by Edwards. The goal seemed to be coming.
And then Bolton scored again.
A long ball down the right seemed largely aimless, but substitute Mason Burstow eased Dale away from it, and crossed into the centre, where Dalby and Boateng were arriving together. Between them, they carried the ball over the line, and Bolton had an unlikely lead once again.
Argyle brought on Caleb Watts for Dale, and then Xavier Amaechi for Edwards, and set about trying to find at least one more goal. Amaechi quickly got the ball and played a cross which was into a dangerous zone, but just a little hot for Curtis.
Two chances, as you would want, fell to Tolaj. One from a lapse by Chris Forino, although the defender recovered to block the shot, and then a few seconds later, when Tolaj flashed an effort wide from about ten yards out.
Kane looked Argyle’s most creative outlet throughout, and he managed to cut a swathe in the Bolton line, then slide a ball to Watts, but the latter could only shoot into the side-netting on the stretch.
In seven minutes of injury time, Argyle could only really muster a Curtis cross that landed on the roof of the net, and the jubilant Trotters wandered away with the points.
Argyle: 1 Conor Hazard, 2 Mathias Ross, 3 Jack MacKenzie (45 Wes Harding, 59), 8 Joe Edwards (capt, 10 Xavier Amaechi, 80), 15 Alex Mitchell, 18 Owen Oseni (9 Lorent Tolaj, 58), 19 Malachi Boateng, 20 Herbie Kane, 27 Bim Pepple, 28 Ronan Curtis, 35 Owen Dale (17 Caleb Watts, 71). Substitutes: 21 Luca Ashby-Hammond (gk), 7 Jamie Paterson, 22 Brendan Galloway.
Goals: Curtis 57
Bolton: 1 Jack Bonham, 6 George Johnston, 8 Josh Sheehan, 9 Johnny Kenny (48 Mason Burstow, 64), 10 Sam Dalby, 11 Thierry Gale (3 Chris Forino, half-time), 14 Jordi Osei-Tutu, 18 Eoin Toal (capt), 25 Max Conway, 27 Ruben Rodrigues (29 Cyrus Christie, 64), 45 John McAtee. Substitutes: 23 David Harrington (gk), 15 Rob Apter, 20 Ibrahim Cissoko, 54 Tobias Ritchie.
Goals: Kenny pen 49, Dalby 69
Sent off: McAtee 42
Booked: Sheehan 18, Rodrigues 45+2
Attendance: 16,616 (1,375 away)
Referee: Charles Breakspear
