Rotherham United (H) | Whittaker's Reaction
After Ryan Hardie and Mustapha Bundu both left the field in the first-half against Rotherham United on Saturday, the message in the Argyle dressing room at the interval was: ‘do it for them’.
Hardie suffered a blow to the head in an aerial challenge in the box, and his replacement Bundu, just moments after coming was caught by a dangerous challenge by Hakeem Odoffin, who escaped with a yellow card.
Both Argyle forwards had to go for assessment at Derriford Hospital, Hardie with suspected concussion, Bundu with a nasty gashed leg. Neither challenge resulted in a red card, with Hardie’s too being a possible shout for a penalty.
Argyle were 1-0 down to bottom side Rotherham at this point, and the sense of injustice seemed to fuel the Green Army, who roared with delight as Finn Azaz levelled during an astonishing 15 minutes of first-half injury time.
In the Pilgrims’ dressing room, captain Joe Edwards galvanised his team-mates by imploring them to win the name of Hardie and Bundu, and shortly afterwards, this was re-emphasised by manager Steven Schumacher, according to Morgan Whittaker.
“No-one would have disagreed, especially if the second one was a red card,” said Whittaker. “Moose (Bundu) has had to go off on a stretcher. Ryan’s is different because it's a ball in the box, but obviously seeing them two like that, we knew at half-time we had to do it for them and get the three points.
“Joe said it before the Gaffer came in and the Gaffer said the same thing. I think when you see two teammates like that, hopefully they're not out for too long and get back because we need them.
“The first half was disrupted with the two injuries. At half-time, the manager said ‘keep going - the second half's going to be 50 minutes long’. It proved right because we scored right at the end.”
They certainly did. After going in at 1-1 at half-time, Azaz scored again to put the Greens in front, but even after Rotherham were reduced to ten-men when Daniel Ayala was sent off, the Millers equalised thanks to substitute Tom Eaves.
It took Whittaker popping up in the 95th minute to score his ninth of the season to give Argyle the victory, marking the second home game in a row where the winner was scored deep into stoppage time.
After a goalless draw with Queens Park Rangers on the road in the week, winning against Rotherham ended the week in excellent fashion.
“I think anyone would have taken four points from the last two games knowing how important they were,” said Morgan. “Especially against QPR, knowing we went down to ten men so early, a point was massive there and three points is even bigger today.
“It was a really, really tough game. Credit to Rotherham because they gave us a game.
“I think [the goal] was just instinctive, really. I got it to Finn and I just carried on my run to see what would happen because it was late in the game.
“Finn has the quality to put the right pass in. It was just about getting it on target and hopefully it goes in, which it did.
“Belief is a big thing for us in the dressing room because we've got the players that can produce at the right moments. It's nice to get two late goals after the late goals we conceded in the early part of the season.”
