Plymouth Argyle’s days in the Championship appear to be coming to an end after another damaging defeat, this time 3-0 against Sheffield Wednesday at Home Park, left them bottom of the table again.

It is now five games without a win for the Pilgrims, who have picked up just two points during that period and relegation to League One after two seasons in the second tier of English football looks more and more inevitable with each passing match.

Head coach Miron Muslic had expected a reaction from his side after tamely losing 2-0 away to Hull City in midweek and they did make a fast start against Wednesday, with three early goal attempts, but gradually their lack of attacking quality became evident again.

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Wednesday went ahead in the 15th minute after an own goal from left wing-back Nathanael Ogbeta and Callum Paterson put them 2-0 up shortly before half-time.

Any slim hopes of an Argyle comeback evaporated after Djeidi Gassama got a third goal for the Owls in the 68th minute, and substitute Michael Smith had a couple of clear cut chances after that for them to have won by an even wider margin.

Argyle were without Adam Randell as he began a three-match ban which was announced four hours before kick-off. The 24-year-old was charged with misconduct by The Football Association following the 1-1 draw with Cardiff City at Home Park last month.

It was alleged that following the final whistle Randell acted in an improper manner and/or used violent conduct and/or threatening behaviour towards a match official in or around the match officials’ dressing room.

Randell admitted the charge and an independent Regulatory Commission subsequently issued him with a three-match suspension and £4,000 fine.

Argyle’s starting line-up showed three changes from the defeat at Hull with Ogbeta, Malachi Boateng and Callum Wright all coming into the side. They replaced Tymoteusz Puchacz, Jordan Houghton and Rami Al Hajj, who were all named among the substitutes.

So too was Ryan Hardie, who returned to the matchday squad for the first time since he suffered a back injury in the Pilgrims’ 2-0 loss away to Blackburn Rovers on February 15.

Ogbeta took over the left wing-back role from Puchacz after he made a positive impact off the bench against Hull, while Boateng lined up in central midfield with Darko Gyabi and Wright was one of the 10s behind Mustapha Bundu, along with Bali Mumba.

Argyle did not have a shot on target when they played Hull but it took them only 28 seconds to do so against Wednesday as a fierce 25-yard drive from Bundu was pushed wide by James Beadle.

That was soon followed by a shot from Ogbeta from outside the box which went just wide of Beadle’s left post and then Gyabi had a header saved by the Owls’ keeper after the ball was nodded inside by captain Nikola Katic following a free-kick.

These three chances all came in the opening four minutes of the match and the Green Army roared their support of the Pilgrims in response.

Wednesday were able to weather that early onslaught and had their first chance when the unmarked Josh Windass sent a header well wide of the target after being picked out by a free-kick into the penalty area from Shea Charles.

The Owls began to find some rhythm to their game and opened the scoring in the 15th minute. Svante Ingelsson had an initial cross from the left blocked but the ball dropped to him for a second attempt.

This time he was able to play it into the six-yard area where Ogbeta, under pressure from Gassama, put the ball into his own net and Argyle were behind.

Wednesday went close to extending their lead in the 23rd minute when Windass and Ingelsson swapped passes and set up Shea Charles, whose low shot from 12 yards out was just wide of Conor Hazard’s near post.

Argyle had the next scoring opportunity. Matty Sorinola's first attempt at a free-kick into the Wednesday penalty area was a poor one but the ball came back to him.

This time the right wing-back put in a decent cross and it eventually led to a chance for Julio Pleguezuelo at the far post but his looping header was off target.

Wednesday had four players booked by referee Ben Toner in the opening half an hour of the game, with Beadle yellow-carded for taking too long to restart play at a goal kick, immediately followed by Barry Bannan after comments he made to the official about that decision.

Pleguezuelo followed them into the referee’s notepad after a foul on Windass as the play became very stop-start before Wednesday grabbed their second goal in the 41st minute.

Windass played the ball out to Ingelsson, whose low cross from the left found Paterson and he had all the time and space he needed to slot home from around eight yards out. It stayed 2-0 to the visitors until the interval and they looked in complete control.

Miron Muslic made a trio of half-time Argyle substitutions as Victor Palsson, Puchacz and Hardie were sent on for Pleguezuelo, Ogbeta and Callum Wright respectively.

Bundu continued to play up front for the Pilgrims with Hardie, who had missed three matches due to his back injury, one of the 10s, along with Mumba.

Katic was booked after a mis-timed challenge on Charles and despite the triple substitution Argyle could not find any attacking impetus in the opening stages of the second period.

The Pilgrims’ boss made another change in the 61st minute when Bundu, who had struggled to make any impact against a strong Owls’ defence, was replaced by Michael Obafemi

When Argyle did get the ball forward they were caught offside a number of times by the well-drilled Owls’ defence, which only added to the hosts’ frustration.

Wednesday then went further ahead in the 68th minute when Gassama ran onto a defence-splitting pass from Windass as he got behind Palsson and then shot past Hazard to make it 3-0.

Before play restarted, Muslic made his fifth and final change as Joe Edwards returned from his long-term hamstring injury to take over from Sorinola at right wing-back.

Wednesday substitute Michael Smith should have made it 4-0 when he raced clear after a slip from Katic but his low shot from inside the penalty area was blocked by an outstretched boot from Hazard.

Lots of Argyle fans left their seats and headed for the exits long before the final whistle and they missed Smith wasting another excellent scoring opportunity when he fired wide from close range.

ARGYLE: Conor Hazard; Maksym Talovierov, Nikola Katic, Julio Pleguezuelo (Victor Palsson h/t); Matty Sorinola (Joe Edwards 70 mins), Malachi Boateng, Darko Gyabi, Nathanael Ogbeta (Tymoteusz Puchacz h/t); Bali Mumba, Callum Wright (Ryan Hardie h/t); Mustapha Bundu (Michael Obafemi 61 mins).

Substitutes: Dan Grimshaw, Jordan Houghton, Kornel Szucs, Rami Al Hajj.

SHEFFIELD WEDNESDAY: James Beadle, Dominic Iorfa (Liam Palmer 70 mins), Michael Ihiekwe, Max Lowe, Ryo Hatsuse; Shea Charles, Barry Bannan (Nathaniel Chalobah 66 mins); Djeidi Gassama, Josh Windass (Olaf Kobacki 70 mins), Svante Ingelsson (Pol Valentin h/t); Callum Paterson (Michael Smith 62 mins).

Substitutes: Pierce Charles, Jamal Lowe, Ibrahim Cissoko, Marvin Johnson..

REFEREE: Ben Toner

ATTENDANCE: 16,981 (1,727)

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