Argyle fell to a third consecutive away defeat in the league, losing 4-0 against Cardiff City on Saturday lunchtime at the Cardiff City Stadium.
Goals in the first half from Ryan Wintle and Chris Willock, and second-half strikes from Rubin Colwill and Isaak Davies saw the Greens beaten comfortably at the hands of the league leaders.
Tom Cleverley made two changes to the team that started last weekend’s win against Blackpool at Home Park.
Brendan Galloway, who came off with a calf issue against the Seasiders, was replaced by Brendan Wiredu. The incoming defender scored just 34 miles away against South Wales rivals Swansea City midweek.
The other change saw Matty Sorinola come into the eleven, following a team-of-the-round performance at Swansea City on Tuesday night. He took the place of Xavier Amaechi, who has not been involved in either of Argyle’s ventures across the Severn Bridge this week.
Luca Ashby-Hammond kept his place in goal, with a back four ahead of him featuring Kornel Szucs at right-back, Alex Mitchell and Wiredu at centre-back, and Sorinola at left-back.
The usual midfield duo of Bradley Ibrahim and Malachi Boateng anchored the defence, the latter donning the captain’s armband for the first time as a Pilgrim.
Just ahead of that pair was Caleb Watts, with Ayman Benarous and Bali Mumba flanking either side as wide attackers.
Lorent Tolaj led the line, making it consecutive league starts following his arrival just eight days previous.
It was an energetic start to the game from Argyle; the relentless pressing was causing Cardiff problems trying to play out from the back.
From the off, Mumba and Sorinola looked to form a strong partnership down the left flank. On numerous occasions the pair combined, a dangerous cross into the box was often the result.
There was an early let-off for Argyle, Joel Bagan had advanced up the pitch and curled a teasing low cross into the Greens’ six-yard box. Fortunately, neither Joel Colwill nor Yousef Salech were able to make any contact with the ball, which looked destined to be turned into the back of the net.
Mitchell had a chance to give the Greens the lead from a set-piece; Sorinola’s inviting delivery was well met by the centre-back, his glancing header flew narrowly wide of the post.
Shortly after, Tolaj came close to opening his account as a Pilgrim. Watts' excellent long ball found the striker in-behind, his touch was enough to take Will Fish out of the game, but not enough to beat Nathan Trott in goal who dealt with the threat well.
However, it would be Cardiff who took the lead. It was a moment of excellence from Wintle; intricate play between Colwill and Cian Ashford allowed him to go undetected on the edge of the area.
When the ball fell to the defensive-midfielder, he made no mistake, drilling a powerful effort beyond the outstretched glove of Ashby-Hammond and into the top-left corner.
Before Cleverley’s side had time to react, they found themselves picking the ball out of their net again.
Willock drove at the Greens' defence on the break; his shuffle was enough to beat Benarous, and with a deflection off Wiredu his shot left Ashby-Hammond with no chance as it bounced into a vacant net.
Despite a solid first forty minutes of the first-half, five minutes to forget at the end of it saw the Pilgrims go into the break trailing two-nil.
The Greens looked rejuvenated at the beginning of the second period, Watts and Tolaj combined well on a number of occasions to unlock the Cardiff rearguard.
It just felt like Cleverley’s side just could not catch a break when Colwill made it three on 50 minutes. The Bluebirds’ captain skipped away from Sorinola on the edge of the area before taking aim from range.
In a very similar manner to Cardiff’s second goal, the ball crashed off Wiredu and wrong-footed Ashby-Hammond, who could only watch the strike deflect into the back of the net.
In response to the goal, Cleverley turned to his bench and brought on another striker. Bim Pepple replaced Benarous, meaning Watts shifted out to the right allowing the Canadian to play centrally, just behind Tolaj.
The Greens kept going, Sorinola slid a ball down the line to Watts who was causing lots of problems on the flank. His cross was a good one but had no pink shirts in the box attacking it.
Moments later, Sorinola and Tolaj both came close to calling Cardiff stopper Trott into action, Argyle spending periods of the second-half on the front foot.
With his team in the ascendancy, Cleverley made another change. Sorinola made way for Freddie Issaka, the teenager played on the wing, with Mumba dropping into the vacant left-back position.
There was a warning sign that the hosts still posed a threat, when Willock came inches away from finding the bottom-left corner after good link-up play with Salech.
Further reinforcements came for Argyle in the pair of Joe’s on the bench, Edwards and Hatch came on for Mitchell and Watts.
Ashby Hammond prevented Cardiff from making it four after a close-range double save kept Colwill at bay from the edge of the six-yard box.
As the game drew closer to its conclusion, the hosts found it easy to pick holes in the Greens’ makeshift defence as they pushed for a way back into the game.
Second-half replacement Davies made his side’s pressure count, putting a fourth past Ashby-Hammond in the first minute of second-half stoppage time.
Wintle set Davies away down the left, his mazy run from outside to in beat Issaka and Szucs and the hand from Ashby-Hammond was not enough to prevent the ball from finding the bottom-right corner.
When the referee blew the whistle to indicate full-time, it marked the end of another miserable afternoon on the road for the Greens this season.
Cardiff: 13 Nathan Trott, 2 Will Fish, 3 Joel Bagan, 6 Ryan Wintle, 10 Rubin Colwill (capt), 16 Chris Willock (47 Callum Robinson, 66’), 22 Yousef Salech(39 Isaak Davies, 66’), 27 Joel Colwill (38 Perry Ng, 86’), 44 Ronan Kpakio, 45 Cian Ashford (29 Tanatswa Nyakuhwa, 66’), 48 Dylan Lawlor. Substitutes: 41 Matthew Turner (gk), 12 Calum Chambers, 28 Dakarai Mafico.
Goals: Wintle 41, Willock 44, R.Colwill 50, Davies 90+1
Booked: J.Colwill 34, R.Colwill 42, Kpakio 90
Argyle: 21 Luca Ashby-Hammond, 4 Brendan Wiredu, 6 Kornel Szucs, 9 Lorent Tolaj, 11 Bali Mumba, 14 Ayman Benarous (27 Bim Pepple, 52’), 15 Alex Mitchell (8 Joe Edwards, 71’), 17 Caleb Watts (38 Joe Hatch, 71’), 19 Malachi Boateng (capt), 23 Bradley Ibrahim, 29 Matty Sorinola (25 Freddie Issaka, 64’). Substitutes: 13 Zak Baker (gk), 22 Brendan Galloway, 24 Caleb Roberts.
Booked: Sorinola 21
Referee: Scott Oldham
