Argyle made it seven games unbeaten on the road with a hard-fought victory against Peterborough United at the Weston Homes Stadium, in Sky Bet League One.
Bim Pepple scored the game’s only goal, his second in as many games, midway through the first half.
Tom Cleverley opted to make four changes to the side that beat Bristol Rovers in dramatic fashion on Tuesday night in the Vertu Trophy.
Conor Hazard took Luca Ashby-Hammond’s place in goal, making it 17 consecutive starts in League One for the Northern Irishman.
Tuesday night’s goalscorer, Brendan Galloway, came in to replace Xavier Amaechi, which meant that Matty Sorinola pushed further up the pitch to feature on the wing.
It was the usual partnership in midfield, with Joe Ralls taking the place of Brendan Wiredu in the centre of the park to accompany Malachi Boateng.
Midweek match-winner Pepple was handed a league start; Caleb Watts, whose return to fitness is still being managed, dropped to the bench.
This meant that on the afternoon, it was Hazard in goal, with a back four ahead of him containing Alex Mitchell and Mathias Ross in the centre, Joe Edwards on the right, and Galloway on the left.
Boateng and Ralls held down the centre of midfield, and were flanked by Ronan Curtis on the right, who made his first league start, and Sorinola on the left.
Pepple partnered Lorent Tolaj up-front, the latter looking to score in his third consecutive game for Argyle, having previously found the back of the net against both Burton Albion and Bristol Rovers.
Peterborough defender Tom O’Connor could count himself lucky to have still been on the pitch after just six minutes. This was because the central-defender was booked for delaying the restart, and then moments later penalised for a clumsy challenge, many in Argyle green calling for a second yellow card.
The Pilgrims dominated the games early chances; excellent deliveries from both Boateng and Curtis on the right caused the hosts a great deal of problems. Strikers Tolaj and Pepple were working hard to evade their markers in an attempt to find the game’s opening goal.
Argyle needed to make this early pressure count, which they did thanks to the tenacity and selflessness of Tolaj. The forward chased and harassed O’Connor, forcing an interception in a dangerous area.
As Tolaj advanced down the right, Posh goalkeeper Alex Bass rushed off his line to close him down, offering the league’s top scorer an easy pass to Pepple, who coolly passed the ball into the vacant net.
There could be no doubt that Cleverley’s side deserved their early lead; their work rate and desire to close down the ball prevented Peterborough from playing out from the back, as they like to do.
Pepple could have made it two-nil when Curtis picked him out with a pinpoint delivery from the right. The Canadian had evaded Tom Lees and volleyed goalwards, but his strike thundered high over the crossbar. The flag went up for offside, shortly afterwards.
As the first-half drew towards its conclusion, the hosts began to grow into the game; they were managing to get chief creators Archie Collins and Kyrell Lisbie on the ball in dangerous areas.
But, to their credit, the Pilgrims’ defence was rock solid; both Ross and Galloway made important interceptions to deny Peterborough the chance to test Hazard in goal.
Cleverley would definitely have been the happier of the two managers at half-time, his side were leading and looking effective both with and without the ball. Despite Peterborough growing into the game, Argyle prevented them from creating any significant chances, also keeping them honest with regular threats on the break.
The fast-paced nature of the game was slightly halted at the beginning of the second period. This was because the hosts were unable to play the way they desired, and frustration crept in; four Peterborough bookings came in the space of seven minutes.
Another big chance fell to Pepple just before the hour mark. Great link-up play down the right between Edwards and Boateng took both Brandon Khela and Carl Johnston out of the play, the Argyle skipper cut the ball back to Pepple, who saw his close-range effort blocked.
Collins denied Pepple the chance to take aim again after an excellent Argyle move. Edwards out-muscled Lisbie and curled a ball centrally to Tolaj in space. He threaded a pass through to Pepple, who had breached the Peterborough back-line, and looked destined to score had it not been for the Peterborough captain’s last-ditch intervention.
There was a lengthy stoppage in the game after a significant head injury to Posh striker Harry Leonard; he was replaced by Declan Frith with just under 20 minutes left to play. We send Harry our very best wishes.
With the game at risk of falling slightly flat, Cleverley turned to his bench for the first time, bringing on Watts to replace Pepple.
Chances continued to follow for the Pilgrims, there was an uncharacteristic miss from Tolaj, a chance that, had it been scored, could have sealed the result for Argyle just four minutes from time.
Ralls punched a ball through to the number nine; he blasted his effort high over the crossbar from a position he tends to be ruthless from.
Things went from bad to worse for the hosts when Peter Kioso was shown a second yellow card and subsequently sent-off in the final minute of regulation time. It came after Sorinola showed great fight to get his body infront of Kioso’s, forcing the right-back to foul.
With eleven minutes of second-half stoppage time awarded, it was a nervy end to the game for the Greens, who looked desperate to get over the line.
This was the team’s chance to showcase some more excellent defending, which had been on display throughout the whole afternoon; Edwards, Ross, Mitchell, and Galloway all outstanding.
Therefore, when referee Ben Atkinson blew his whistle to indicate the end of play, there could be no doubt that Cleverley’s side deserved to take three points with them back to Devon.
Argyle are back in action next weekend, when they face Luton Town in a lunchtime kick-off at Home Park in Sky Bet League One.
Peterborough United: 1 Alex Bass, 2 Carl Johnston (capt), 4 Archie Collins, 8 Brandon Khela (22 Donay O’Brien-Brady, 77), 12 Tom Lees, 17 Kyrell Lisbie(18 Cian Hayes, 77), 24 Jimmy-Jay Morgan (39 Pemi Aderoju, 60), 27 Harry Leonard (11 Declan Frith, 77), 28 Matthew Garbett, 29 Tom O’Connor (15 George Nevett, 25), 30 Peter Kioso. Substitutes: 31 Bastian Smith (gk), 33 James Dornelly.
Booked: O’Connor 4, Lisbie 51, Leonard 55, Garbett 56, Kioso 58, Collins 67
Sent off: Kioso 89
Argyle: 1 Conor Hazard, 2 Mathias Ross, 8 Joe Edwards (capt), 9 Lorent Tolaj(6 Kornel Szucs, 90+9), 15 Alex Mitchell, 19 Malachi Boateng, 22 Brendan Galloway, 27 Bim Pepple (17 Caleb Watts, 85), 28 Ronan Curtis, 29 Matty Sorinola (4 Brendan Wiredu, 90+3), 32 Joe Ralls. Substitutes: 21 Luca Ashby-Hammond (gk), 7 Jamie Paterson, 10 Xavier Amaechi, 14 Ayman Benarous.
Goals: Pepple 23
Booked: Boateng 6, Tolaj 44, Ross 90, Mitchell 90+5
Referee: Ben Atkinson
Attendance: 8,684 (1,234 away)
