MORE THAN DESERVED

FOSTER PROUD AS ARGYLE PICK UP A HARD-EARNED POINT

- CHRIS ERRINGTON

HEAD coach Ian Foster thought Plymouth Argyle dominated 'literally from start to finish' in their 1-1 draw with Blackburn Rovers at Ewood Park.

Foster declared the one disappointment from the Championship clash was that his side did not make the most of the 20 goal attempts they had during the game, with seven of them being on target. Still, at least they picked up a point after falling behind in the early stages.

Sammie Szmodics gave Blackburn a seventh-minute lead and the hosts also had a shot against a post from Arnor Sigurdsson but, otherwise, Argyle created some excellent chances in the first half but could not convert any of them.

They continued to be on top in the second half, and Blackburn also had defender Kyle McFadzean sent-off in the 54th minute after a blatant foul on Ryan Hardie, but the Pilgrims had to wait until the 74th minute for their equaliser when Morgan Whittaker netted from close range.

Foster said: "It was the very least we deserved. A lot of people will look at the game, see the result, see the sending off and think we have only scored because they have been reduced to 10 men but before their goal and after their goal we have dominated the game literally from start to finish.

"The whole 95 minutes we have been the team on top, 20 shots away from, our xG (expected goals) is through the roof. The only disappointment that we go away with is we haven't converted more of those chances.

"I'm really proud of the players. We picked the team to dominate. We felt we could here and we did that. It was 66 per cent (possession) I think in the first half. I have never witnessed a team 1-0 up at half-time getting booed off quite a unique thing to see and hear, but that just shows you the dominance we had.

"No halves are ever the same but the players continued to knock on the door and eventually we got what we deserved."