Argyle came from behind to beat Huddersfield Town at Home Park, after a scorching second-half performance in the Plymouth sunshine.
It looked as though the Greens had it all to do when Cameron Humphreys put the visitors ahead midway through the first half.
However, Owen Dale’s spectacular strike and Bim Pepple’s penalty turned the game on its head.
Owen Oseni was then on hand to notch Argyle’s third and seal a big result for the Pilgrims.
Cleverley opted to make just one change to the side that beat Stevenage at Home Park in midweek, which was an enforced one.
Herbie Kane, who is on loan from Huddersfield, was ineligible to play against his parent club. Therefore, Oseni came into the side upfront, meaning Jamie Paterson dropped into midfield to fill Kane’s vacated spot.
There was a place in the Huddersfield starting 11 for ex-Pilgrim Bali Mumba, who joined the Terriers from Argyle back in January.
The team on the day was Conor Hazard in goal, with what is now a pretty regular back four ahead of him, containing Joe Edwards, Mathias Ross, Alex Mitchell, and Jack MacKenzie, from right to left.
Malachi Boateng extended his impressive run of games in midfield, and was joined by Paterson, who was himself making consecutive starts.
Ronan Curtis and Dale retained their places on the right and left flanks, respectively.
It was a new-look front two; Oseni joined Pepple in the frontline, the latter receiving his maiden call-up to the Canada National Team in the week.
The afternoon certainly had a big-match feel; both sets of supporters knew of the game’s importance and were in good voice leading up to kick-off.
Curtis’s delivery caused the visitors early problems; he swung in a free kick from the right that Marcus Harness nearly inadvertently swept into his own net, fortunately for the Huddersfield man, it went behind for a corner.
There was a moment of magic from Humphreys to give Huddersfield the lead midway through the first period.
He picked up the ball in a deep position and ventured forward, beating Ross, Paterson, and MacKenzie on his way to goal. After breaching the penalty area, the midfielder shot between Edwards’ legs and beyond Hazard, who was beaten by the slight deflection.
The goal came at a point in which the game had gone slightly flat; it was important for Argyle to respond well to this setback and not allow the visitors to take control of proceedings.
Not long after going behind, the Pilgrims had the chance to level the game when Roughan’s misplaced back-pass set Pepple through on goal.
The Canadian did well to evade the challenge of recovering Huddersfield defender Murray Wallace and shoot low on target. In goal, Lee Nichols was equal to Pepple’s effort and saved well, keeping his side ahead.
There were loud shouts for a penalty when Dale closed down Nicholls well, putting the goalkeeper under pressure. He seemed to catch the Argyle man in his attempt to claim the ball, but the referee did not see it that way, and no spot kick was awarded.
The resulting corner saw Harness grapple Pepple inside the six-yard box, prompting more calls for a penalty, but again to no avail. The melee in the box saw Nicholls go down injured; he had to be replaced by Jak Alnwick in first-half stoppage time.
Therefore, when the referee signalled half-time, Huddersfield went into the break with the advantage.
The first real action of the second period saw the Greens level the game, Dale scoring his first in Green just two minutes after the restart.
Before the goal, both Ryan Ledson and Alnwick had made blocks on the goalline to deny Oseni from close range following an Argyle corner.
The ball bounced around the box and eventually fell perfectly to Dale on the edge of the area, who thundered a rocket into the roof of the net. It was a really impressive finish; not only did he strike the ball with perfection, he also managed to clear a whole host of bodies inside the box and beat Alnwick in goal.
This will have been exactly what Cleverley wanted from his team early on in the second period; they were back in the game and had the best part of the half to try and find a winner.
They would not have to wait too long for this opportunity. Terriers’ substitute Cameron Ashia brought down Oseni as he was about to latch onto Paterson’s angled cross, at the third time of asking, Argyle had a penalty.
Up stepped Pepple, who was the coolest man in Home Park, to roll the ball straight down the middle, with Alnwick diving the wrong way.
Just like that, within 15 minutes of the second half commencing, the Pilgrims had flipped the game on its head, the scoreline was now 2-1 as the game crept beyond the hour mark.
This goal saw the Argyle striker come alive. He had another chance when he was picked out well by Curtis, it took a last-ditch challenge from Wallace to prevent him from calling Alnwick into action from close range.
The Greens’ first change of the afternoon came shortly after, Wes Harding was introduced after a spell out injured, he took the place of MacKenzie at left back.
Mumba tried to spoil the party on his return to Home Park, making an excellent sliding challenge from behind to deny Edwards, who was racing through on goal.
But there was nothing that he could do to stop Oseni from making it 3-1 just minutes later.
Good play down the left from Dale saw the winger cut inside and pick out Pepple in the box. He took aim and forced an intervention from Alnwick, but the goalkeeper could not hold the ball, spilling it directly into the path of Oseni just yards out.
It was an easy finish for Argyle’s number 18 on his return to the starting 11, but still an impressive celebration in front of the Babcock Devonport End.
From this point onwards, Huddersfield struggled to find a way back into the game; it seemed as though the third Argyle goal had really wounded them.
Caleb Roberts was introduced to the game with just over ten minutes left on the clock. Paterson was the man replaced in the centre of the park.
It looked as though it was going to be a fourth for Argyle and a second for Oseni, when the forward was played through on goal by Ross in a counter attack directly from a Huddersfield corner.
The finish bounced just wide of the left post, with Oseni having Alnwick already well beaten.
With their work for the day done, Cleverley took off the front two – Pepple and Oseni – to great ovation. Xavier Amaechi and Brendan Galloway were brought on to see out the final few minutes.
The Greens were able to see out the game with relative ease to make it four wins in five and take themselves just a point behind the last playoff place.
Cleverley’s side are next in action when they take on Bolton Wanderers at Home Park on Good Friday, another tough test in the race for promotion.
Argyle: 1 Conor Hazard, 2 Mathias Ross, 3 Jack MacKenzie (45 Wes Harding, 68), 7 Jamie Paterson (24 Caleb Roberts, 78), 8 Joe Edwards (capt), 15 Alex Mitchell, 18 Owen Oseni (10 Xavier Amaechi, 88), 19 Malachi Boateng, 27 Bim Pepple (22 Brendan Galloway, 88), 28 Ronan Curtis, 35 Owen Dale. Substitutes: 21 Luca Ashby-Hammond (gk), 14 Ayman Benarous, 41 Seb Campbell.
Goals: Dale 47, Pepple 59, Oseni 73
Booked: Hazard 18, Dale 44, Amaechi 90+3
Huddersfield: 22 Lee Nichols (31 Jak Alnwick, 45+4), 3 Murray Wallace, 4 Ryan Ledson (capt) (18 David Kasumu, 54), 7 Lynden Gooch (2 Lasse Sørensen, 77), 8 Cameron Humphreys, 10 Marcus Harness, 19 Bali Mumba, 20 Josh Feeney, 21 Antony Evans (36 Cameron Ashia, 54), 23 Seán Roughan (15 Dion Charles, 78), 26 Alfie May. Substitutes: 6 Jack Whatmough, 17 Marcus McGuane.
Goals: Humphreys 25
Booked: Roughan 13, Mumba 18, Feeney 82
Referee: Ruebyn Ricardo
Attendance: 16,266 (563 away)
