They might have pulled the plug on the documentary a week too soon. It’s been a strange two weeks for Plymouth.

First they sacked Wayne Rooney. Then, despite being managerless, they broke their transfer record to sign the Ghana forward Michael Baidoo.

Then they appointed the 42-year-old Austrian Miron Muslic as their first foreign manager. And then, to cap it all, with the interim duo of the first-team coach Kevin Nancekivell and the club captain Joe Edwards still in charge, they pulled off their most eye-catching result in years, Morgan Whittaker’s 82nd-minute goal securing their first away win since they beat Rotherham in April.

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After the final whistle, the players ushered Nancekivell, who has worked with the club since 2005, to take the applause of the 2,500 fans who had travelled from the south-west. “I’m extremely proud, really emotional,” he said, before praising the “spirit and resilience” of his side.

In the nine away games before Rooney was sacked, Plymouth’s run of results read: 0-2, 0-4, 0-2, 0-4, 1-6, 1-1, 0-3, 0-1, 0-5. “How shit must you be? We’re drawing away,” the away fans were singing within five seconds – a line in gallows humour that earned a discernible laugh from the home end. But this really didn’t look like a side that have conceded 35 goals in 14 away league games this season.

Conor Hazard made early saves from Kevin Schade and Fábio Carvalho but, that aside, Brentford’s threat was limited to a string of corners. Plymouth, with Adam Randell and Caleb Roberts offering a deep-lying shield in front of the back three, were impressively solid.

Given they also kept a clean sheet at Stoke last weekend, that does not reflect especially well on Rooney’s management. The key to the new-found solidity, Nancekivell said, was “the players’ attitude – they probably feel a bit of guilt, a bit of remorse in losing a manager his job”. Their aim at Brentford had been “to be organised, to be in our shape, to make it as difficult as we could and produce a bit of quality when we could”. Which was pretty much exactly as it went.

Muslic introduced himself to Nancekivell after signing a three-and -a-half-year deal on Friday then left the caretaker to get on with the job.

There will be no fly-on-the-wall coverage of Muslic’s progress as he tries to drag his side off the bottom of the table but, having led Cercle Brugge into Europe, he does at least have a CV to brandish that isn’t just a list of doomed clubs at which he should never have taken a job. And there is surely a basis to work from here.

It’s fair to say that the FA Cup is not Brentford’s priority – but that’s not Plymouth’s concern. Thomas Frank made six changes to the side that hammered Southampton last week, which did at least mean a return for Rico Henry, who made his first appearance since damaging the anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee in September 2023. “Plymouth deserved to win,” Frank said. “They defended brilliantly, ran hard, defended with their lives and they scored a really good goal.”

Baidoo’s role before being withdrawn after an hour was a thankless one, as an isolated frontrunner looking to do enough harrying to at least occasionally relieve the pressure on the Plymouth rearguard. But with Bali Mumba overlapping, there were occasional suggestions Plymouth might be able to prise an opening on their left and Callum Wright, chopping inside from that flank, drew a low save from Hákon Valdimarsson after 18 minutes.

The longer the game went on, the more their fans began to believe, roaring every challenge and celebrating each corner with ferocious abandon.

Their chance seemed to have come as a neat break ended with a cross to the back post. Matthew Sorinola charged on to it but headed over.

Another opportunity, though, did present itself, Whittaker drifting across the top of the box before the space finally opened up for him to clip a low left-foot shot at goal. Mustapha Bundu was in an offside position and probably in Valdimarsson’s eyeline, but the linesman did not raise the flag and there is no VAR at this stage.

The ecstatic Plymouth fans ended as they had begun, with one small but vital change to the lyrics. “How shit must you be – we’re winning away?”