Adam Randell equaliser saves Plymouth Argyle from Derby County defeat

Plymouth Argyle ended a five-game away losing run in the Championship with a hard-fought 1-1 draw against Derby County at Pride Park.

Former Derby player and manager Wayne Rooney saw his Pilgrims’ side fall behind in only the eighth minute after a superb overhead kick from striker Jerry Yates and the home side had good chances as the first half went on to extend their advantage.

However, they did not take any of them and Argyle drew level in the 41st minute when midfielder Adam Randell, returning to action after missing two matches with a thigh injury, scored with a deflected free-kick.

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Derby did most of the pressing during the second half and Yates came the closest to getting it with a spectacular long-range attempt from inside his own half which Argyle ‘keeper Dan Grimshaw was just about able to touch wide.

Argyle’s wait for a first away league win of the campaign has now stretched to eight games but in the circumstances they will have been more satisfied with the draw.

Randell took over from Jordan Houghton in central midfield as one of four changes to Argyle’s starting line-up against Derby from the 1-0 midweek win against Portsmouth at Home Park.

Not only that, the 24-year-old midfielder wore the captain’s armband for his hometown club in their final fixture before the third international break of the season.

The trio of Callum Wright, Mustapha Bundu and Michael Obafemi also came into the side for Rami Al Hajj, Freddie Issaka and Andre Gray respectively.

Three-goal joint top scorer Morgan Whittaker lined up against the club where he began his career while Derby’s team included former Pilgrims’ defender and captain Curtis Nelson.

Argyle club captain Joe Edwards has been ruled out until January by a hamstring injury and had an operation earlier in the week but he met up with his team-mates at Pride Park, using a pair of crutches to get about.

Rooney sent out the Pilgrims in their usual 4-2-3-1 formation, with Obafemi leading the attack and the trio of Bundu, Wright and Whittaker behind him.

The Pilgrims were behind in only the eighth minute when Derby’s first corner of the match was not cleared by a combination of Wright or defender Kornel Szucs and Yates scored with a spectacular overhead kick as the ball flew past Grimshaw.

For a side which has struggled so much on their travels this season, it was exactly the start Argyle did not want, and it could have got even worse for them soon afterwards.

The ball was crossed from the right by Kayden Jackson and Liam Thompson appeared to be ready to take aim on goal until Argyle right-back Matty Sorinola made a vital sliding challenge to concede another corner.

Jackson saw a lot of the ball as Derby looked for him to take on left-back Bali Mumba at every opportunity and it was a tactic which caused Argyle plenty of problems.

Derby’s next chance was a shot from an unmarked Kenzo Goudmijn from inside the Argyle penalty area which was deflected narrowly over the bar by Mumba.

From the resulting corner, which was taken short, Nathaniel Mendez-Laing crossed into the box and a flicked header from Yates went not far wide of Grimshaw’s far post.

It was a familiar story for Argyle on an away-day as they came under pressure while being unable to pose any attacking threat of their own.

There was one occasion when Whittaker neatly played the ball past Derby midfielder Ebou Adams to get into a shooting position about 25 yards out but former Argyle captain Curtis Nelson blocked his attempt.

It was the same outcome a few moments later when Wright tried a strike from the edge of the Derby box but this time Nat Phillips got in the way of it.

Mendez-Laing sent a curling shot from distance over the bar for County and he later sent a low drive wide of the target as the Pilgrims continued to create trouble for themselves by giving the ball away.

So it was very much against the run of play when Argyle equalised in the 41st minute after they were awarded a free-kick 25 yards out after a foul on Whittaker by Mendez-Laing. It was Randell who stepped up to take it and his shot took a deflection ff Yates in the Derby wall as it flew into the net.

It was just Argyle’s second league goal in eight away league games this season, with the previous one coming from Whittaker in the 1-1 draw at Queens Park Rangers in August.

It stayed 1-1 until the interval and Argyle could consider themselves to be level given the way much of the first half had gone until Randell’s free-kick.

Argyle defender Julio Pleguezuelo committed a rash tackle on Goudmijn close to his own penalty area early in the second half. The resulting free-kick was taken by the same Derby player but was hit low into the Pilgrims’ wall.

The away side did not help themselves by conceding a number of free-kicks inside their own half which allowed Derby to build up pressure on them.

Wright did have a decent strike for Argyle but it was comfortably saved by goalkeeper Jacob Zetterstrom before Yates came so close to scoring an outrageous second goal for Derby.

The Derby striker tried to beat Grimshaw with a shot from inside his own half after Darko Gyabi lost possession and the Argyle ‘keeper had to scramble back and touch the ball away for a corner, crashing into the frame of the goal as he did so.

Rooney made his first Argyle substitutions in the 68th minute as Hardie and Issaka were sent on for Bundu and Wright respectively. Hardie went up front alongside Obafemi and Issaka played wide on the left in what was now a 4-4-2.

Derby substitute Ben Osborn was allowed to stride forward and get in a low shot which was not far wide as the hosts continued to do most of the attacking. Obafemi was then replaced by Adam Forshaw in the 79th minute as Rooney looked to bolster his side in central midfield for the closing stages, with Randell dropping particularly deep to protect the defence.

Grimshaw was shown a yellow card for time wasting at a restart of play as Argyle clung on to stay level, and Victor Palsson was sent on as a substitute for Sorinola as the game went into four minutes of added time.

The Pilgrims did force a corner in the final few seconds but it came to nothing and referee Simon Hooper’s full-time whistle followed, but at least their away losing run was over.

ARGYLE: Dan Grimshaw; Matty Sorinola (Victor Palsson 90 +1 mins), Kornel Szucs, Julio Pleguezuelo, Bali Mumba; Adam Randell, Darko Gyabi; Morgan Whittaker, Callum Wright (Freddie Issaka 68 mins), Mustapha Bundu (Ryan Hardie 68 mins); Michael Obafemi (Adam Forshaw 78 mins).

Substitutes: Marko Marosi, Nathanael Ogbeta, Jordan Houghton, Andre Gray, Rami Al Hajj.

DERBY: Jacob Widell Zetterstrom; Kane Wilson (Ben Osborn 64 mins), Curtis Nelson, Nat Phillips, Craig Forsyth; Ebou Adams; Nathaniel Mendez-Laing (Dajaune Brown 79 mins), Kenzo Goudmijn (Marcus Harness 64 mins), Liam Thompson; Kayden Jackson; Jerry Yates.

Substitutes: Josh Vickers, Sonny Bradley, Tom Barkhuizen, James Collins, Joe Ward, Corey Blackett-Taylor.

REFEREE: Simon Hooper

ATTENDANCE: 29,652

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