Whittaker the hero as Argyle strike late yet again to win

SCHUEYS PILGRIMS OVERCOME INJURY ADVERSITY WITH A STOPPAGE TIME WINNER AGAINST MILLERS

- CHRIS ERRINGTON

STEVEN Schumacher saw his Plymouth Argyle side overcome the adversity of serious injuries to Ryan Hardie and Mustapha Bundu to beat bottom-of-the-table Rotherham United 3-2 in an incident-packed Championship match at Home Park.

The Pilgrims conceded an early goal against Rotherham, who have not won an away league game since November 2022, before Hardie and Bundu both suffered injuries within a few minutes of each other which resulted in them being taken to hospital. Finn Azaz equalised with a penalty during 15 minutes of added time at the end of the first half and then put Argyle 2-1 ahead in the 52nd minute.

It looked like their task had been made easier when defender Daniel Ayala was sent-off soon afterwards for a second bookable offence but substitute Tom Eaves grabbed a 77th minute equaliser for Rotherham.

It appeared as though the game was going to end in a 2-2 draw until Azaz set up Morgan Whittaker to score his ninth goal of the season in the sixth minute of added time to clinch a vital victory, who moved up to 16th position in the Championship.

Schumacher said: "It was mad, it was one of them days. I wish it wasn't as eventful. It was quite a draining afternoon, there was a lot going on but, at the end of the day, the result was the most important thing.

"We thought we played really well on Wednesday night (when 10-man Argyle drew 0-0 away to Queens Park Rangers) and worked so hard to get a result from that game, and we wanted to back that up with three points.

"We made hard work of it really, especially when we went 2-1 up and then had 10 men against us. It should have been more comfortable than it was but credit to Rotherham, I though they were brilliant.

"They were really well organised, hard-working and a massive threat when they were throwing balls in the box. It was a tough game and a tougher game than probably what it should have been."