Derby Draw

Plymouth Argyle 1 (Ebanks-Blake 23 pen) - 1 Bristol City (Timar 71 og)

Do things ever go right for Argyle? Certainly not during the biggest billed game of the year. An own goal from Kristian Timar sees Argyle slip to 8th position, whilst Bristol City waltz up in 4th through no effort of their own. For 71 minutes Argyle has 3 points in the bag against City until a mistake by Timar sent the ball flying high over Larrieu's head into his net, which set the Bristol fans on fire after being muted for most of the matches. A galling way to lose 2 points.

Argyle could have been 2-0 up come half time if the Bristol keeper had scored an own goal within the first 15, a ball from a corner caught by the keeper but he fell though he managed to hold it again right on the line. No goal. Instead Argyle had to wait until Ebanks-Blake was
brought down for a penalty (though was it a foul or did he just slip on the water-bound surface? The referee decided to "give it a go" after a 20 minute pitch inspection) before opening the scoring. From then on it was a struggle, and however galling it is to admit, Bristol City are a good side and there is a lot of spite that they are doing so well as a new Championship side compared to Argyle who have had several years experience.

The players' performances ran hot and cold throughout the 90 minutes, was it due to the conditions, mindset or just "same old Argyle"? Likewise the officials' performances were way off good - with the "assistant" referees playing follow-my-leader, and the referee's inconsistencies AGAIN.

Was it a fair result? Before the game many would have taken a draw, but to concede in such a way seems yet another big injustice that Argyle have had to suffer in the last month.