This was an improvement on Saturday’s performance and, but for a poor clearance from Asmir Begovic which led to an own-goal from Albert Adomah, would have been enough to win. We played with more desire than we did against Sheffield Wednesday, particularly in the second half, chalking up a total of 14 shots, four of which were on target. They had five shots on target, only one of which really tested Bego, whereas we had five big chances. A missed opportunity, but at least the teams around us didn’t fare that much better, with Huddersfield losing 4-1 to Preston and Sheffield Wednesday drawing at home to Norwich. Only Millwall got three points, beating Leicester 1-0, but Stoke, Birmingham, Blackburn and Swansea are all in action tomorrow. As things stand, we’ve actually moved up a place to 16th, level on points with Millwall (47) but beating them on goal difference. Another three points should see us safe.
Martí Cifuentes made three changes to the team he fielded against the Owls, replacing Jake Clarke-Salter with Morgan Fox, Chris Willock with Paul Smyth and Sinclair Armstrong with Lyndon Dykes. That means we lined up in a 4-2-3-1 formation as follows: Begovic in goal; Jimmy Dunne, Steve Cook, Fox and Kenneth Paal in the back line; Isaac Hayden and Sam Field in front of them; Smyth, Lucas Andersen and Ilias Chair as the attacking trio; and Dykes leading the line.
The R’s didn’t do much to excite the 1,727 visiting fans in the opening minutes of the game, with Morgan Whittaker, the Pilgrims’ on-form striker, coming closer than any of our forwards, putting the ball just wide of the post in the 16th minute.
When the sun set behind the host’s goal, that was the signal for Martí to wave to the referee to stop the game so he could bring Chair over to have his first drink of water of the day. I keep forgetting that the Moroccan international is observing Ramadan, given that he’s still starting in every game, but the fact that he can play with so much energy while eating and drinking nothing during the day is impressive.
After that, we stepped up a gear and enjoyed a good spell from about the 25th minute to the 40th. Chair got in behind in the 28th minute – shot blocked – while Andersen got a shot off in the 30th. Six minutes later, Chair brought down a long ball from Fox and played Smyth in on goal. Side netting. It felt like we were getting closer, but it was honours even at half time.
If there wasn’t much between the teams in the first half, we were definitely the better side in the second – four of our five shots on target came in the second period. We dominated for large periods, although they hit us on the counter several times and looked dangerous going forward.
Chair pounced on a slip from one of their defenders in the 52nd minute and dribbled the ball almost the length of half the pitch before firing into the side netting. Andersen got off a decent shot three minutes later, but it was blocked, and the ball then fell kindly for their number 9, Ryan Hardie, who was in on goal and might have scored had he not been tracked all the way by Morgan Fox, who calmly saw off the danger. A minute later, Dykes was motoring down the left-hand channel, put in a perfect cross for Smyth, but he struck it straight at the keeper. That was our best chance of the first hour.
Willock came on for Andersen in the 63rd minute and even though the Dane hadn’t had a bad game we really started cooking at that point. Willock floated one in for Dykes at the far post in the 64th minute, but he headed the ball across the goal instead of into it, and Sam Field couldn’t quite get his feet right to stick it in the net. Smyth pulled off an almost identical move on the other side in the 68th minute, but that, too, came to nothing. Nevertheless, it felt like a goal was coming.
Come it did in the 73rd minute and – even better – it was from a corner! Chair crossed his arms before taking it, just as Andersen sometimes does, and I think that’s a signal that the target man is Dunne on the far post. It worked against Swansea and it worked here, too, although this time Dunne went straight for goal. The keeper saved it, but failed to clear the ball, and after a bit of a goalmouth melee Field managed to stick it in the back of the net. The visiting fans erupted, as much with relief as joy. If we could only hold on for another 20 minutes or so, we could stop worrying about relegation.
But we couldn’t.
After another lung-bursting effort in the 75th minute, Chair was spent and Cifuentes replaced him with Albert Adomah a couple of minutes later. Why the 36 year-old when Sinclair Armstrong was on the bench? Did Armstrong need the rest after starting on Saturday? God knows, but it proved to be a poor substitution because Adomah scored an own goal in the 85th minute – although, to be fair to him, he didn’t know much about it.
It began with a corner from the hosts that should have been easy for Begovic to deal with. Instead of putting it behind for another corner – or, better yet, gathering it – he pushed the incoming ball straight into Adomah and it seemed to rebound off him and into the goal. This time it was the home fans turn to go nuts, thinking their team had scored. It wasn’t obvious it was an OG and the announcer initially gave it to Mustapha Bundu.
After that, neither team looked much like netting, with a shot from Willock in the 87th minute the closest we came. There was an anxious moment when the hosts had a free kick from about 25 yards out in the 96th minute, but it came to nothing.
I thought we deserved to win this one, in spite of only taking one of our chances, and we would have done if it hadn’t been for Begovic and Adomah’s mistake. Still, to come here and get a point, given that Argyle are far from dead and buried, isn’t too shabby. By my reckoning, we need to pick up three points from our remaining four games to be sure of safety, with Preston at home being our best chance. There are still four points between us and the drop zone, so our cushion remains. Let’s hope all our rivals lose tomorrow evening.
You can watch the highlights on Sky Sports here.