Ipswich Town (A) | Schumacher's Reaction

Argyle ended up losing by the odd goal in five in a topsy-turvy encounter with Ipswich Town on Saturday – but manager Steven Schumacher was left frustrated at what might have been, had a huge turning point at the end of the first half gone another way.

The Pilgrims led via a stunning goal by Morgan Whittaker and, as half-time approached, had a great chance to make it 2-0. Mustapha Bundu burst forward, approached the area, and appeared to be brought down by George Edmundson.

The incident was very close to the edge of the box, and it could be argued about whether or not it would have constituted a denial of a goalscoring opportunity and a red card, but this became moot as referee Gavin Ward waved away the appeals. 

Ipswich scored within minutes, via a Bali Mumba own goal, then took the lead through George Hirst. Argyle took the game to Ipswich and had chances to equalise, but the goal would not come.

Bundu himself had to go off through a hamstring injury late in the game, leaving Argyle with ten men, having used their substitution windows. With Argyle at a numerical disadvantage, Marcus Harness made it 3-1 to Ipswich, but Joe Edwards still clawed one back in injury time as Argyle through everything they had at an Ipswich side riding high in second place.

“It was a great game,” said Schumacher. “I said in the week we were going to come here toe-to-toe and slug it out with them - and that's what we did. I felt for large parts of that game, we were the better team. These have been the best team in the league to watch, along with Leicester, picked up the most points, and I don't know whether they've had any harder games than that.

“We were excellent. First half, Ipswich controlled the possession and we had to defend really well, but we always looked a threat on the counter-attack, which was the plan.

“Second half, I felt we were outstanding. We controlled the game, got into great areas and were more than a match for them.

“The gripe comes about the refereeing decisions. That's going to take the headlines, and it shouldn't, it should be about our performance because we were outstanding, but it's so disappointing.

“Mustapha's ahead of George Edmondson, he's running in on goal, and he's about to shoot. Edmondson slides in from behind and makes contact with him, which makes him fall over.

“Now, whether it's a penalty or it's an outside the box, you could debate that, or whether it's a straight red card or not, because Ipswich had two recovering defenders - but it's a foul. The referee hasn't given it, and everyone's looking around, everyone in the stadium's thinking: ‘what's happened?’

“Within two minutes they've gone down to our end, got a corner and scored from it. It's a huge turning point in the game.

“If Ipswich end up getting a man sent off and we're 1-0 up, things might have been so different now.

“It was hard to defend against Ipswich. We had to slightly adjust our press, what we were doing, because [Nathan] Broadhead was causing us a problem. The players adapted to that.

“Morgan's goal was perfect. We regained it in the middle of the pitch. Luke Cundle and Finn Azaz, were in the team today to play in tight areas. They got the ball to Morgan Whittaker and it's an unbelievable goal.

“The second half performance was excellent. In my opinion - and I have to watch it back, it's obviously in the heat of the moment - I felt we dominated it, and we definitely had clearer chances than they did.

“Once again, we've been punished for not being clinical in their half, in their penalty box, and maybe that's one thing that's in our control that we've got to do better with.

“The lads are dead on their feet at the end there. We had to play the last 15 minutes with 10 men, because Mustapha was injured. Even then, they still had belief to pass the ball, to still try and create chances, and we scored a great goal with 10 men.

“I can't fault the lads’ performance, I really can't. The fans stayed behind and clapped us off the pitch because they've seen a real effort and a big shift from our team. I think we haven't got what we deserve from the game. I think we definitely deserved something from it.”