A frantic, action-packed game at MATRADE Loftus Road ended with Argyle earning a point that felt like a victory against Queens Park Rangers.
Rangers took the lead inside three minutes, as Michael Frey’s near-post header from a corner fizzed into the net. After the home side’s fast start, Argyle settled, played some controlled football, and deservedly levelled when Morgan Whittaker rifled home from distance, taking advantage of some loose control in the QPR ranks.
Immediately, though, Adam Forshaw was sent off for a second caution, and the complexion of the game drastically changed.
Naturally, QPR piled on the pressure, and Argyle’s remaining players were asked to cling on to the game, despite the chances coming their way.
Even with substitute Freddie Issaka being sent off late in the game, the nine-men of Argyle saw the game over the line in dramatic style.
Argyle’s one change coming into the game was the inclusion of Darko Gyabi, at the expense of Mustapha Bundu. This facilitated a slight change of system, with Gyabi essentially joining Adam Randell and Forshaw in the centre of Argyle’s midfield, with Morgan Whittaker and Ibrahim Cissoko wide of central forward Ryan Hardie.
The Pilgrims retained the back four of Bali Mumba at left-back, Joe Edwards at right-back, and Brendan Galloway and Lewis Gibson in the centre, all in front of Conor Hazard in the Greens’ goal.
Forward Michael Obafemi, who joined Argyle on Thursday night at their west London base, was on the Argyle bench for the fixture. Goalkeeper Dan Grimshaw, signed from Blackpool the following day, completed the move after the Friday midday deadline, so was not able to be part of the squad.
The sides came into the game with eerily similar records of the season so far. Both lost their opening game, won a Carabao Cup tie, then drew their second league encounter. For Rangers, though, it was a come-from-behind 2-2 draw with Sheffield United, with the equaliser coming through Lyndon Dykes after Rangers had gone down to ten men.
Dykes was absent for this game, but Nicolas Madsen was in, having signed for the Hoops from Belgian side Westerlo the day before. In Rangers’ first attack, Madsen flicked on a cross which, had he left it, might have been perfect for Frey to attack.
The home side had flown out of the blocks and went close when Paul Smyth’s low shot was pushed wide by Hazard, but Rangers scored immediately from the corner. The delivery from Karamoko Dembele was excellent, to the near post, where Frey flicked to steer home, with just over two minutes played.
Argyle’s reaction was good, though, and they quickly established some control of the ball, and moved into dangerous areas. On occasion, a Gyabi cutback was only lacking a finish, before Whittaker’s curling pass into the path of Hardie was intercepted at the very last second.
Cissoko then sublimely tricked his way down the left to deliver a cross which glanced off a defensive head, thus taking it agonisingly out of the path of the arriving Hardie and Whittaker.
Dembele, playing just behind the striker for Rangers, was clearly a threat, and after wriggling free from the clutches of Forshaw – for which the latter was still booked – Dembele got into a similarly good position 20 yards out, and shot narrowly over.
Argyle equalised on 28 minutes with a goal both beautiful and absurd.
Whittaker got the ball on the right wing and attempted to pass infield. The ball was loose, and easily intercepted, but Rangers midfielder Sam Field’s touch was heavy, and Whittaker sensed an opportunity that milliseconds earlier had seemed unlikely.
Whittaker snatched the ball from the toes of his opponent and fired instinctively goalwards. The result was a whipped, curling effort that flew into the corner of the net, beyond the dive of Paul Nardi. It was an equaliser that Argyle deserved.
Elation. Short-lived elation, mind.
Within moments of the restart, Forshaw chased into a defensive corner and lunged to halt the progress of Jimmy Dunne. The tackle was a fraction late, and caught the QPR full-back, bringing him down. A second yellow card was produced, and no sooner had Argyle flattened one hill, the ground before them began to form an incline once again.
There was a curious symmetry with Argyle’s previous visit to QPR. On that occasion, in December, the Greens had been superb, and were drawing 0-0, when Dan Scarr was sent off near the half-hour mark. Eight months on, and the task before them was rather similar.
Argyle saw the game through to half-time with only one or two scares, the most notable being a mirror-image version of the corner that put Rangers in front, which Dunne glanced, but slightly too finely, and the ball skimmed away to relative safety.
It felt inevitable that the second half would be all about Argyle seeing out anything Rangers could throw at them. The chances began with a header from Field which arched, dipped and struck the foot of the post.
As crosses began to come in at a rate, Hazard pounced on a Frey knock-down, before another ball slung in from the left was headed wide by Dunne.
There were precious chances for Argyle to break out and create, but they kept their shape and repelled most of what came their way, defensively. Just after the hour mark, Wayne Rooney freshened things with a triple substitution, with Obafemi, Jordan Houghton and Freddie Issaka coming on for Hardie, Gyabi and Cissoko.
It would be wrong to say things felt comfortable, but there was not, to this stage, a torrent of Rangers chances or pressure. They were undoubtedly on top, their numerical advantage apparent, but Argyle were organised and resolute. There were occasional flashes of Argyle getting forward, too, although those breaks tended to fizzle out as the weight of numbers that QPR were able to bring back outweighed the stretched legs of attacking Pilgrims.
As the game entered the final ten minutes, Rangers noticeably seemed to turn the screw.
Zan Celar, who had come on as a half-time substitute for QPR, got into the game increasingly, and had two chances close together. One, a near-post snapshot, was tricky, and went wide. The next, a shot on the turn from around eight yards out, went over, and the forward may well have expected to do better.
On 83 minutes, Hazard produced a stunning double save to keep Argyle level. Firstly, he pushed away to his right when Steve Cook’s volley looked bound for one bottom corner of the net, and when the ball was lofted back in, and Field headed down, Hazard got across to the other side to repel that effort too.
With three minutes of the 90 remaining, Argyle threw in a free kick, brilliantly earned by Obafemi, from which Kornel Szucs, not long on as a substitute, looked to be pulled down by his shirt. Referee Gavin Ward paused to consider and turned down the vociferous demands of the Argyle players for a penalty.
QPR went straight down the other end, won a free kick, and delivered to where Celar flicked a deflected header, which evaded the post by the narrowest of margins.
Issaka was sent off for a late tackle, late in the day, and the Greens had to withstand a vast amount of late pressure, but hold on they did. The explosion of noise from the 1,750 travelling supporters said everything you need to know.
Point made.
Argyle: 21 Conor Hazard, 2 Bali Mumba (6 Kornel Szucs, 78), 7 Ibrahim Cissoko (35 Freddie Issaka, 63), 8 Joe Edwards (capt), 9 Ryan Hardie (14 Michael Obafemi 62), 10 Morgan Whittaker, 17 Lewis Gibson, 18 Darko Gyabi (4 Jordan Houghton 62), 20 Adam Randell, 22 Brendan Galloway, (3 Nathanael Ogbeta, 87), 27 Adam Forshaw. Substitutes: 33 Zak Baker (gk), 5 Julio Pleguezuelo, 11 Callum Wright, 15 Mustapha Bundu.
Booked: Forshaw 20, Gyabi 42, Randell 54, Hazard 90.
Sent off: Forshaw 29, Issaka 90.
QPR: 1 Paul Nardi, 3 Jimmy Dunne, 5 Steve Cook, 6 Jake Clarke-Salter, 7 Karamoko Dembele 28 Alfie Lloyd, 90), 8 Sam Field, 11 Paul Smyth, 12 Michael Frey (26 Rayan Kolli, 80), 14 Koki Saito (18 Zan Celar, half-time), 22 Kenneth Paal, 24 Nicolas Madsen (40 Jonathan Varane, 80). Substitutes: 13 Joe Walsh (gk), 16 Liam Morrison, 19 Elijah Dixon-Bonner, 23 Hevertton Santos, 30 Lorent Talla.
Booked: Clarke-Salter 85, Varane 90.
Attendance: 15,285 (1,750 away)
Referee: Gavin Ward.
