Argyle’s Boxing Day scoreline, of losing 4-1 to Reading, makes for difficult reading.
The bare facts are that the Greens were 3-0 down after 19 minutes, with a Lewis Wing double and Kamari Doyle goal all stemming from Joe Ralls’ 12th-minute dismissal, which led to a penalty, which led to Wing’s first, which led to everything else.
However, Argyle really rallied, and when substitute Xavier Amaechi got one back there was actual belief that something could be salvaged. When Argyle were given a penalty of their own, it did not seem a pipe dream.
However, Lorent Tolaj missed from the spot, and Jack Marriott sealed things for Reading late on. It was a strange old day, though.
An unchanged starting 11 is not a super regular occurrence, but it was hardly surprising that Tom Cleverley began the game with the same side that started at Doncaster Rovers six days ago. The only tweak to the whole 18-man squad was Tegan Finn replacing Sam Hayman on the bench.
Reading went one better, and named precisely the same 18 that took on Luton the previous Thursday, and prevailed 3-2.
Argyle and Reading began the day on the same number of points – 25 – with Reading having played a game fewer.
Within 12 minutes of the start, Argyle had a player fewer.
From a Reading attack that Argyle could not clear, the ball was about to fall to Derrick Williams, just inside the six-yard box. Instinctively, Ralls pulled the Royal back, and not only did referee James Durkin point to the spot, but he sent Ralls off for deliberate denial of a goalscoring opportunity.
Reading captain Wing smashed home the penalty and, at that point, so early in the game, it felt like the only chance for Argyle would be to sit tight at 0-1, and see if they could stay in it.
They couldn’t.
Despite Argyle quickly taking off forward Owen Oseni and bringing on Brendan Wiredu to play in midfield, Wing swiftly scored again, winning the ball on the edge of the area and hitting a deflected effort past Conor Hazard.
That was effectively ‘game over’, but Doyle’s goal, making it 3-0 before even the 20-minute mark rendered the rest of Boxing Day redundant.
What to do? Some Pilgrims had had enough, heading for the exits. Reading fans – jubilant, naturally – serenaded their counterparts with the natural call of ‘cheerio, cheerio’. They then pivoted to sing, with more colourful language than we will share here, a question about ‘why are you still here?’
A fair question, but those that stayed – the vast majority, it should be said – saw Argyle offer somewhat of a reaction, from perhaps the 25-minute mark onwards.
There was a big chance for Reading to make it four, when Daniel Kyerewaa took a bit of an air shot from a good position, but after Argyle had dragged themselves off the floor following the 1-2-3 punch, they played some admirable football.
Alex Mitchell headed onto the roof of the net from a Matty Sorinola free-kick, and from one slick move, from left to right and back to front, Bali Mumba’s backheel was very close to putting Lorent Tolaj clean through.
Reading were still a threat – Charlie Savage whistled one wide on 35 minutes – but the final two chances of the half came for the Greens, with Sorinola hitting a 20-yarder not far off target, and Mumba rising well to head a similar distance wide.
It is not worth pretending at this stage there seemed to be any jeopardy on the game. Anyone thinking ‘stranger things have happened’ were either the champion optimists of the South West, or simply looking at the ‘recently dropped’ section on their Netflix account.
However, it is still of note that, having had the double disappointment of losing a player and shipping three goals, it was the numerically disadvantaged side who were playing the better football for the second quarter of the game.
The mitigating factor, of course, was that the other team had gone 3-0 up in an eight-minute defining segment of the game, and had probably taken their foot off the gas. Dangerous game, though.
Argyle brought Amaechi on at half-time, and he was quickly into the game, with two sumptuous diagonal passes that found Mumba, and later a right-wing cross that was nearly met at the far post by right-back Joe Edwards, who was playing the game at x2 speed, even for him.
Tolaj had a burst through the centre where he won the ball and managed to beat a player, virtually in the same movement, and set off on a (by now standard) swashbuckling run, only to be denied by a tremendous recovery tackle by Wing.
We will not pretend Reading did not have periodic chances, because they did, particularly when centre-forward and scourge of lexicographers Kelvin Ehibhatiomhan came on, and made an effective nuisance of himself. But Reading could not get one to hit the net – and then Argyle did.
It started with a Reading attack, from which burst forth Mumba, releasing a marauding Malachi Boateng. Drawing two retreating Royals, Boateng smartly played into the path of Amaechi, who blasted home.
Surely not, right?
And then came the big moment; the zaniest sequence in this Boxing Day baffler, and that is certainly saying something. Another really nice Argyle move saw the Pilgrims attack down the left, with Mumba carving into the area, and going down.
The incident was firmly in the ‘seen ‘em given’ category. It sure as heck wasn’t in the file marked ‘stonewall’. But it was given, and up stepped Tolaj.
On an afternoon of uncertainties, it felt like the banker might be Tolaj’s prolific left-foot producing a very unlikely second goal for Argyle, and setting up one of the grandest grandstand finishes you would ever likely see.
But no. Tolaj’s contact was far from certain, goalkeeper Joel Pereira made the save, and we were robbed of the epic denouement. A theft that stung even further given that the contact on Wiredu, trying to pick up on the loose ball, looked more of a penalty than the one that had just been given.
It was here that the dream died. The air drained from the stadium like it will from Auntie Sheila’s souffle when you go round there on Sunday. But credit should go to the Pilgrims on the pitch that gave it a real go, and to the Green Army in the stands for their backing, and realising that their team was doing all they could to provide a festive miracle.
When Jack Marriott slammed in an 86th-minute goal, the away end’s cheer was one of relief that what could have been a dramatic ending was avoided.
Plenty of home supporters took this cue to head for the leftovers back at base, and it is hard to blame them.
A great many, even as this report is published, might be back at home with family, or perhaps in the pub with pals.
“How did Argyle get on, Bill?”
“Well, we lost 4-1. But…”
Argyle: 1 Conor Hazard, 2 Mathias Ross, 8 Joe Edwards (capt, 6 Kornel Szucs 77), 9 Lorent Tolaj, 11 Bali Mumba, 14 Ayman Benarous (10 Xavier Amaechi, half-time), 15 Alex Mitchell, 18 Owen Oseni (4 Brendan Wiredu, 14), 19 Malachi Boateng, 29 Matty Sorinola, 32 Joe Ralls. Substitutes: 21 Luca Ashby-Hammond (gk), 20 Law McCabe, 27 Bim Pepple, 39 Tegan Finn.
Goals: Amaechi 67
Booked: Sorinola 4, Mitchell 65, Ross 73
Reading: 1 Joel Pereira, 3 Jeriel Dorsett, 7 Jack Marriott (20 Mark O’Mahoney, 87), 8 Charlie Savage (6 Liam Fraser, 87), 10 Lewis Wing (capt), 11 Daniel Kyerewaa, 15 Paudie O’Connor, 17 Andy Yiadom (2 Kelvin Abrefa, 68), 21 Randell Williams (9 Kelvin Ehibhatiomhan, half-time), 29 Kamari Doyle, 33 Derrick Williams (12 Finley Burns, 71). Substitutes: 25 Jack Stevens (gk), 19 Andre Garcia.
Goals: Wing pen 13, 18, Doyle 19, Marriott 86
Booked: Wing 23, Yiadom 30, Dorsett 80
Attendance: 16,434 (909 away)
Referee: James Durkin
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