Plymouth Argyle defied their lowly place in League One to put in a dominant performance as they overwhelmed Stockport County at Home Park.
Plymouth Argyle defied their lowly place in League One to put in a dominant performance as they overwhelmed Stockport County at Home Park.
Kyle Wootton put Argyle ahead when he headed an Andrew Sorinola corner past his own goalie, and Caleb Watts doubled the lead with a superb strike from the penalty box.
However, Oliver Norwood closed the gap just before half-time by converting a contentious penalty, much to the displeasure of the home supporters.
Their disappointment was alleviated shortly after the restart when Bradley Ibrahim scored his first goal for Argyle from the edge of the box, restoring their two-goal advantage.
The hosts were superb in the second half, and after creating multiple decent chances, were rewarded with a well-deserved fourth goal from Lorent Tolaj, who smoothly converted after controlling a long pass.
County’s Wootton added a late consolation goal as Argyle celebrated a well-deserved three points. The result moves the Pilgrims out of the League One relegation zone, while Stockport drops to ninth.
Stockport started the first half brighter, with Jayden Fevrier impressing down the right; the forward’s 11th-minute cross found Nathan Lowe, whose exquisite touch nearly found Wootton in the penalty box.
But it was Argyle who took the lead in an unexpected way: Sorinola’s corner appeared to be misjudged by a number of players, possibly due to the high wind, and a perplexed Wootton stooped to nod past Corey Addai.
Watts unleashed an unstoppable swerving right-footed shot from the corner of the 18-yard box 15 minutes later, allowing Argyle to score twice in the first half for the first time since April.
But Stockport controversially closed the gap soon after when Lowe tumbled backwards at the far post from a 45th-minute corner, with referee Neil Hair ruling that Ibrahim had fouled him despite replays showing very little contact.
County captain Norwood then sent Luca Ashby-Hammond the wrong way from 12 yards to reduce the gap, much to the chagrin of the home crowd.
Ibrahim, a summer acquisition from Hertha Berlin following a loan spell at Crawley Town, alleviated the frustration by arrowing home a right-footed strike into the bottom corner three minutes after the restart to make it 3-1.
The hosts gained confidence and began to play some superb passing game; it could have been 4-1 when Bali Mumba got to the byline and cut it back for Tolaj, but Ben Osborn saved the striker’s 57th-minute shot.
Ibrahim fired a low effort wide of the far post shortly after a wonderful stepover in the area, and the goalscorer also had a long-range strike saved by Addai.
Norwood had a long-range shot saved by Luca Ashby-Hammond in the final 20 minutes, then Malachi Boateng sidefooted wide for the hosts when placed through on goal moments later.
However, Argyle got their well-deserved fourth goal when Tolaj struck the target for the first time since joining from Port Vale last month, curling in a low left-footed effort.
Wootton flicked a header from a corner off the outside of the Argyle post with 10 minutes remaining before scoring a low effort from just inside the area in stoppage time to make the score more respectable.
Plymouth Argyle’s head coach, Tom Cleverley, told BBC Sport:
“It was an excellent performance. “We’ve been doing a little bit of work on performance levels rather than being entirely consumed with outcomes, and I believe that’s vital, that we don’t get bogged down by our league form.
“I told the players that today was all about performance; you might win or lose, but you had to do everything to the best of your ability, and I think the guys did an excellent job.”
It was an excellent team performance. We handled the game effectively, and I couldn’t be more proud of the guys.”
Stockport County’s manager, Dave Challinor, told BBC Sport:
“I think in the first half, we wanted to press and be aggressive, which we were. “Intertwined with that were some pretty terrible mistakes that cost us goals.
“You go to halftime with 2-1 and you’re right in the game; now you need to start the second half well.
“To concede the goal that we did in the manner that we did just knocks the stuffing out of everything and I suppose the fourth goal just sums up our afternoon really.”
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