Home Park again delivered late drama as a 96th minute equaliser from Andre Gray rescued a point for Wayne Rooney’s Pilgrims against Watford.
Embed from Getty ImagesGoals from Vakoun Bayo and Ryan Porteous either side of Gray’s goal of the season contender gave Watford the lead at half time.
The former Watford man curled a wonderful effort in the 96th minute to give Argyle the 6th point earned in injury time this season.
Bali Mumba gave Moussa Sissoko a warm welcome back to EFL action with a scything tackle inside sixty seconds. The Argyle man was perhaps fortunate to escape with a yellow.
You’d be forgiven for thinking Argyle thought they were still on their international break as the Greens barely had a touch in the opening exchanges. Yasser Larouci’s break down the left gave him ample space to deliver a delicious cross for Vakoun Bayo to bundle home on nine minutes.
Watford continued to dominate, as Argyle struggled to match the Hornet’s ferocious tempo. The Pilgrim’s captain Lewis Gibson found space in the 23rd minute to play a hopeful diagonal towards Gray. The former Watford marksman sent a sumptuously struck volley into the far corner for a superb equaliser.
A contentious free-kick minutes from the interval allowed a ball into Mattie Pollock in the Argyle box. Stretching, he pulled back for his defensive partner Porteous to stab home for 2-1.
Bayo had a gilt-edged opportunity to seal the deal deep into the second half. A charging run from Sissoko freed Bayo in the box, but Daniel Grimshaw spread himself well to turn the ball behind.
Substitute Callum Wright went close for the Greens 10 minutes from time. A sharp turn in the box freed him to curl agonisingly wide with his left.
With time running out, a long throw from Mumba eventually found the feet of Mustapha Bundu, who laid it on for Gray wide left in the Watford box. A precise curled effort found the far top corner to send Home Park into raptures.
Player Ratings:
Grimshaw: 5. Made a few handy saves, most notably from Bayo which would have put the game to bed. Usually dependable with his feet, he was perhaps fortunate not to have two moments of madness punished.
Szucs: 5. Not quite the usual standards set by the Hungarian international this term. Caught out of position on a number of occasions. Not at fault for either goal but didn’t stand out.
Pleguezuelo: 6. The best of the back three. Had numerous good moments sweeping up balls in behind and dug his goalkeeper out of trouble in the first half. Looked at home on the ball as the central member of a back three.
Gibson: 5. Defensively an uncharacteristically poor night from the Argyle skipper. Lost his man for the second goal but a superb ball to Gray for his goal keeps his rating from slipping lower.
Sorinola: 4. Struggled to cope with Larouci and Chaktevadze. Once Argyle grew into the contest in the second half his crossing was wayward before being replaced by Freddie Issaka.
Randell: 4. Never had much of an opportunity to affect the game on the ball and was largely bypassed off it.
Gyabi: 6. Looked to create and appeared to have been instructed to join the press when Argyle attempted it. Had an effort saved well by Bachman at his near post in the second half which was of his own making.
Mumba: 5. An okay return to the wing-back role that had him looking so sharp in Argyle’s title-winning League One campaign. Had a few promising runs in the immediate aftermath of the goal when Argyle tails were up. A very poor tackle on Sissoko in the first minute was rightly punished with a yellow.
Whittaker: 3. Ineffectual. Lacked quality service but guilty of several unforced turnovers. On this evidence, he is not the answer to Argyle’s number 10 problem.
Obafemi: 5. Feeding off scraps for most of the game. He fashioned a half chance for himself after effectively pinning Mattie Pollock when a ball to Bali Mumba looked the better option.
Gray: 9 (MOTM). Largely feeding off hopeful long balls, Gray held the ball up well on a number of occasions. Two incredible goals from half chances perhaps painted over cracks in Argyle’s overall performance, but a superb showing from the Argyle number 19.
Substitutes:
Wright: 6. Looked bright and was able to wriggle some room in the box to curl just wide on 80 minutes. Has done himself no harm in staking a claim for the number 10 spot.
Bundu: 5. Didn’t have a great deal of impact after coming on. Thankfully was in the right place to find Gray for the equaliser for one of the more straightforward assists of his career.
Issaka: 5. Another that looked bright upon his introduction. Asked to play a wing-back role, given Argyle chasing the game his main focus was making inroads going forward. The youngster had a few good runs but inconsistent crossing.
