Rooney's reign is off to a disastrous start with a mauling by Wednesday

THE Wayne Rooney era at Plymouth Argyle officially started with a 4-0 thumping by a rampant Sheffield Wednesday in his first competitive match as the club's head coach.

- CHRIS ERRINGTON

The Pilgrims were second best from the first whistle until the last in their Championship season-opener as they had no answer to the intensity that the Owls played with, in front of a very appreciative packed crowd at Hillsborough.

Given Wednesday's dominance the only surprise was they had to wait until the 35th minute to take the lead, when striker Jamal Lowe tucked the ball away from close range.

An unfortunate own goal from Argyle defender Brendan Galloway put the Owls further ahead early in the second half before Josh Windass made it 3-0 in the 82nd minute.

There was no let-off from the totally dominant home side even in the closing stages and deep into added time substitute Michael Smith grabbed their fourth and final goal.

Wednesday were no doubt mightily impressive, and would have beaten better teams than Argyle on the day, but such a heavy defeat on the opening day of the Championship campaign will still have been hugely disappointing for Rooney.

The big talking point of Rooney' first team selection for a competitive match as Argyle's head coach was the choice of Conor Hazard as goalkeeper over Michael Cooper, who was named among the nine substitutes.

Cooper has been the subject of speculation about a move away from Home Park throughout pre-season and it continued on the morning of the match at Hillsborough with a national newspaper report he was valued at £6 million by Argyle, which had 'scared off' Sheffield United.

It was also suggested the Pilgrims had lined up Bolton Wanderers 'keeper Nathan Baxter as a replacement for Cooper should the 24-yearold, who is in the last year of his contract, leave the Pilgrims.

So it was Hazard who was between the posts against Wednesday as he started his first league game for Argyle since they lost 1-0 to the same opposition at Hillsborough in early March.