Nine-man Argyle hold on for hardearned point

PLYMOUTH Argyle had both Adam Forshaw and Freddie Issaka sent-off but still picked up a very hard-earned point from a 1-1 draw with Queens Park Rangers at Loftus Road.

- CHRIS ERRINGTON

The Pilgrims fell behind in the third minute when Rangers’ forward Michael Frey headed home from a corner but Morgan Whittaker equalised shortly before the half-hour mark with a fantastic left-foot shot.

Moments later, Forshaw was sentoff for a second bookable offence but Argyle coped well enough before the interval despite being down to 10 players.

Rangers applied near-constant pressure in the second period, with little coming the opposite way, but Argyle dealt superbly with a succession of crosses into their penalty area.

QPR were guilty of a couple of bad misses while goalkeeper Conor Hazard produced two superb saves in the closing stages before 18-year-old Issaka, on as a substitute, was red-carded after a heavy challenge on Kenneth Paal.

Argyle had made two new signings in the build-up to the game but neither of them were in Wayne Rooney’s starting line-up. Striker Michael Obafemi, who joined on loan from Burnley on Thursday night, was named among the Pilgrims’ substitutes.

However, keeper Dan Grimshaw did not complete his transfer from Blackpool until Friday, which was too late for him to be eligible to be involved against Rangers.

That meant 19-year-old Zak Baker continued to be the back-up keeper to Hazard. The only change from the Pilgrims’ 1-1 draw with Hull City at Home Park last time out saw Darko Gyabi come into the side for Mustapha Bundu.

Gyabi played in an advanced midfield role behind striker Ryan Hardie with Adam Randell and Forshaw in deeper central midfield positions.

QPR had three players making their home debuts, including Danish midfielder Nicolas Madsen, who had completed a permanent move from Belgian club Westerlo on Friday.

The other two were both loan signings – Karamoko Dembele from Brest in France and Koki Saito, who was brought in from Dutch club Sparta Rotterdam.