Four goals in a crazy second half resulted in a 2-2 draw from the second Devon Derby of a turbulent season for both Argyle and Exeter City.
With both sides desperate for all three points, both sides might be a little frustrated not have to taken the win, but then again there is a case for relief for both sides.
For Argyle, they were behind twice, staring at the ignominy of losing both Derbies in a season. Reece Cole gave City the lead early in the second half, and although Lorent Tolaj equalised, Jayden Wareham’s 87th-minute goal looked like being the winner. However, a scramble to end all scrambles saw Malachi Boateng, a man whose brother played for both competing sides, forced the ball home to earn a draw.
Tom Cleverley named an unchanged 11 which saw Conor Hazard behind a back four of Joe Edwards, Mathias Ross, Alex Mitchell and Wes Harding. Owen Dale and Ronan Curtis flanked a midfield duo of Boateng and Jamie Paterson, with Tolaj up front with Owen Oseni.
It seemed to be a curiosity of the first half of football that, by the conclusion of it, you would comfortably say that Argyle had the best three or four chances, that more than once you would say ‘how has that not gone in?’ and yet it rarely felt like Argyle were carving Exeter open to get to them.
The first of these moments came on 12 minutes, when Exeter players Ilmari Niskanen and Ed James got in a tangle, and between them they steered the ball towards their own goal. It took a really good save from Jack Bycroft to kick the ball to safety.
To be fair, Exeter broadly had the better of the first 20 minutes or so of the game. The visitors looked the more threatening in transition, although they never really parlayed that into an obvious attempt to challenge Hazard.
City’s best opportunity was probably from a Jayden Wareham cutback which fell behind Reece Cole, and for which Carlos Mendes Gomes was not really set, and Argyle snuffed it out.
Argyle started to churn – churn being the word – out opportunities a little more frequently.
After a Tolaj drive forwards, Oseni managed to get into the area and shoot, but struck into the side-netting.
From a free-kick taken from their own half, Argyle got the ball to Mitchell, whose header beat the wildly onrushing goalkeeper, but fell wide.
Keeping Argyle honest, Exeter soon found joy from another counter-attack, but Harding made an excellent challenge to halt Wareham.
On 33 minutes – chaos. Paterson clipped a ball into the area, where Tolaj and Oseni both lurked, along with several defenders. Somehow, the ball bounced around, a yard or two from goal, as Bycroft somehow conjured it away.
Argyle looked to be ramping it up. Tolaj hit one from the edge of the area, which the goalkeeper saved, and the rebound somehow evaded the following-up Oseni.
Next, from a recycled corner, Dale crossed, and Boateng headed towards goal. The connection was not his best, but the goalkeeper swatted at it like a kitten nervously batting away an unfamiliar ball of twine. Oseni followed up, on target, and again Bycroft saved.
In the first minute of the second half, Dale had a slightly deflected cross from the left arc onto the bar, and after Exeter could not clear, Argyle put the ball back into a dangerous area, courtesy of another deflection. Curtis was in offside position, but let the ball go for a corner. The flag, however, went up anyway, and Exeter had a free-kick. A few knocks later, they led.
There was definitely a sense of injustice about the free-kick award, but Argyle had their chances to halt the attack.
A low cross from the right saw Cole react quicker than Mitchell, and the Exeter forward was cute enough to dink past Hazard to give Exeter the lead.
Argyle reacted by bringing off Oseni and Paterson, introducing Caleb Watts and Xavier Amaechi, and moving Ronan Curtis into the front two.
Curtis was involved when he brought a ball down and turned towards goal. He slipped Tolaj, now his striker partner, the ball, but on his right (wrong) foot, and leaning back, Tolaj could not hit the target.
Argyle were struggling. There was little cohesion, and Exeter had seemingly cottoned on to everything the Greens were trying to throw at them. However, after offering little for a while, the Pilgrims started to stir.
In the interests of fairness and balance, it might have all started with a slightly fortunate decision. Argyle got a corner when a goal-kick looked favourite, and from it Dale had a shot really well blocked. Argyle continued to get the ball back into danger a couple of times, before earning a corner, 100% legit this time. From it, Exeter sub Josh Magennis met it and inexplicably headed back across goal. There stood Tolaj, and Argyle had parity.
They also had the momentum. Ross, with a little more license to go forward as Argyle had brought on Jack MacKenzie, shifted Dale to right wing-back and gone 3-5-2, brought a superb save out of Exeter’s Jekyll and Hyde goalkeeper Bycroft, and it seemed like Argyle were the far more likely to score the game’s third goal.
But they did not. From a long throw, Niskanen helped on and Wareham was able to shoot on target. With help from a deflection on the way, the ball settled in the bottom corner. It seemed likely to be winner, and Wareham even more likely the matchwinner when he was played in by Charlie Cummins, but dragged wide.
Argyle, though, managed to summon up an equaliser befitting of the nature of the game. A free-kick on the right was taken short, and whipped in by Amaechi. Mitchell’s header was superbly saved, and another bundle ensued.
In all of that, Boateng went to the deck, the goalkeeper kicked out at the ball, which hit the prostrate Boateng and somehow rebounded into the net.
The eight prescribed minutes of injury-time saw Argyle launch a few balls into dangerous areas, but in the end a lunchtime in which emotion lurched from dread to relief to desperation, ended up in a mixture of the lot. Derby defeat was avoided, but the one point gathered was two short of what was hoped for.
Four games to go. Keep believing.
Argyle: 1 Conor Hazard, 2 Mathias Ross, 7 Jamie Paterson (17 Caleb Watts, 57), 8 Joe Edwards (capt, 3 Jack MacKenzie 80), 9 Lorent Tolaj, 15 Alex Mitchell, 18 Owen Oseni (10 Xavier Amaechi, 56), 19 Malachi Boateng, 28 Ronan Curtis, 35 Owen Dale, 45 Wes Harding. Substitutes: 21 Luca Ashby-Hammond (gk), 22 Brendan Galloway, 24 Caleb Roberts, 29 Matty Sorinola.
Goals: Tolaj 79, Boateng 90
Booked: Edwards 15, Watts 61
Exeter: 23 Jack Bycroft, 2 Jack McMillan, 7 Carlos Mendes Gomes (3 Ryan Rydel, 66), 9 Jayden Wareham, 12 Reece Cole (10 Jack Aitchison, 76), 14 Ilmari Niskanen, 21 Danny Andrew, 26 Pierce Sweeney (capt), 29 Kevin McDonald (27 Josh Magennis, 67), 40 Ed James, 45 Charlie Cummins. Substitutes: 32 Frankie Phillips (gk), 6 Ethan Brierley, 20 Luca Woodhouse, 28 Timur Tutierov.
Goals: Cole 47, Wareham 87
Booked: McDonald 61, Bycroft 63, Mendes Gomes 66, Niskanen 74
Attendance: 17,016 (1,748 away)
Referee: Matt Corlett
