daniel chigunwe
LONDON. – Sitting at the bottom of the Championship and without a win in 11 matches, Plymouth Argyle would have feared the worst before their FA Cup trip to Brentford.
Their Premier League opponents have been incessant at Gtech Community Stadium, scoring 27 goals in 10 Premier League games, with no side scoring more goals at home this season in the top flight.
Argyle, who had Zimbabwe’s Brendan Galloway in their starting XI, were without a win on the road since April – scoring just three goals and conceding 35 from their 14 league games on the road this term.
But, after a disciplined defensive display in west London, Morgan Whittaker scored the only goal of the third-round tie with eight minutes remaining to send the Championship strugglers through and hand a glimmer of hope to their fanbase, who have had little to celebrate recently.
Galloway played 81 minutes of the famous victory.
A string of dismal results under head coach Wayne Rooney led to the departure of the former England and Manchester United striker on New Year’s Eve.
Under Rooney, Plymouth won just five and lost 15 of 25 games in all competitions – a win rate of just 20%, and they headed into the cup tie on the back of two straight draws under caretaker Kevin Nancekivell.
Austrian Miron Muslic was announced as their new boss on Friday but he was limited to a watching brief from the stands against the Bees.
So it was not a surprise that not many expected the Pilgrims to compete, let alone produce the biggest upset of the round.
“Nobody gave Plymouth a chance,” former England goalkeeper Rob Green said on BBC Radio 5 Live.
“The way they celebrate says to me they didn’t really give themselves a chance but it has given them a huge, wonderful boost.
“It’s a story and the FA Cup is all about stories. This is a great story.”
Plymouth faced a Brentford side that started without Bryan Mbeumo and Yoane Wissa, who have scored 23 league goals between them.
But their starting line-up included Denmark international Mikkel Damsgaard, who has bagged seven assists this season, as well as other regulars like Sepp van den Berg, Kevin Schade and Mads Roerslev.
Plymouth, though, went toe-to-toe with them and hardly gave the hosts an inch, after overcoming early blushes when they allowed Fabio Carvalho to have a couple of sighters at their goal.
“The plan this week was to be organised, to be in our shape, to come to a Premier League team and make it as difficult as we could for them and to have a bit of quality on the ball,” said interim coach Nancekivell after the game.
And his players executed that plan to perfection as they remained solid even after Thomas Frank introduced Mbeumo, Wissa and Keane Lewis-Potter off the bench – before Whittaker produced the moment of magic. – BBC
Online Reporter