Plymouth Argyle 0 - West Bromwich Albion 3

Brendan Clegg:

A mighty win and what a way to bounce back after a disappointing performance against the Saints.

The starting lineup wasn’t one I’d have gone for as CC rotated. Pieters playing his 3rd game in a week, Chalobah and Swift in central roles. BTA out altogether.

And after our standard strong 5 minutes away from home where we pressed and they looked desperate, we then couldn’t get out of neutral. It was all slow and patient, coming back from dangerous situations to play safe, sometimes over clever stuff.

We did create a couple of chances and looked solid at the back but with the casual running and play of Swift and Chalobah, and their lazy flicks, you wondered whether another game for the taking would go begging.

Thankfully we came out like animals second half, everyone aggressive and pressing as we turned the screw. Everyone stepped up and we laid seige to their goal with Weimann, Chalobah and Wallace all coming close before big Cedric bundled a chance in from a poorly defended corner.

Soon after Yok and Johnston came on and strengthened us, and I also thought Grady impacted the game by holding up the ball, chasing everything and linking up play.

We looked like we might score at will and Johnston did just that, driving at them, sitting a player down and then slamming into the far corner.

Other chances came via our play and movement with the supply from the left, Grady missed a sitter before finally Wallace had a shot saved and Fellows darted in to gobble up the parry.

The level of Plymouth was such that Reach and Semi made cameos out of position and still looked a league above them.

A very satisfying night on the road, setting us up for a massive couple of games.

• Palmer - 6 Solid if little to do.
• Furlong - 7 on top all game
• Kipre - 7 Totally dominated
• Pieters - 7 Full credit, I’d have played Ajayi but he was immense
• Townsend - 7 Another solid performance
• Mowatt - 8 I find it incredible a player with his short game ability was used to wallop balls into the corner for Karlan Grant to chase under Ismael, and that Bruce let him out on loan. A revelation. Ran the game.
• Chalobah - 6 A bit passive but stepped it up.
• Wallace - 7 Just relentless. Deserved a goal.
• Swift - 5 Didn’t impress me.
• Fellows - 7 A constant pain and threat
• Weimann - 6 Not his night but got into positions to get decent chances

• Johnston - 8 Turned the game really. Would love to see him in the Swift role. Looks really good.
• Yok - 7 Solid
• Grady - 7 I can’t recall him ever holding the ball up so well in a central role
• Reach - 6 Decent carrying and passing through the middle
• Semi - 6 Good to get minutes at right back even though he looked like a T-Rex playing there.

Hippothirteen:

A pleasant evening.

A nice fish and chip supper on the Barbican (I live in Devon now) and then a dominant performance at Home Park. Completely different to the reverse fixture where we looked hesitant against their pace; tonight we pushed up, gave Argyle no space and bossed it.

The first half was pretty much played in their half; lots of Albion corners but not much penetration. Second half, wow. The half time oranges did the trick. Playing towards the Barn Park (away) end we had a 1 on 1 miss (Swift?) and then struck the inside of the post. The goal came from a scramble (Kipre MoM?) then Mikey Johnston cut inside for a beautiful second. Tom Fellows added a third from close range. Did Argyle force a single save?

Hats off to the group we met from Tamworth in The Hyde Park pub... they'll have enjoyed the 4hr drive back!

[ According to the BBC, Plymouth had 4 shots off target and none on target so no, they didn't force a save from Palmer ]