Plymouth Argyle suffer yet another heavy away defeat against Bristol City

The pressure is piling up on Wayne Rooney as Plymouth Argyle suffered yet another demoralising, heavy away Championship defeat, this time against Bristol City at Ashton Gate.

The Pilgrims were beaten 4-0, with all of the goals coming from the 58th minute onwards as near constant pressure from the Robins finally overwhelmed them despite the best efforts of Dan Grimshaw, who made a number of fine saves in a losing cause.

It was another morale-sapping result for Argyle, who rarely threatened to get a goal themselves and they have now lost eight of their 10 away Championship games this season, picking up just two points on their travels.

READ MORE: Wayne Rooney calls Plymouth Argyle defeat at Bristol City a 'big embarrassment'

READ MORE: Plymouth Argyle player ratings as Bristol City heap more misery on them

Just as was the case when the Pilgrims were trounced 6-1 by Norwich City at Carrow Road on Tuesday, they conceded four second half goals, with Anis Mehmeti getting two of them. Scott Twine and Sinclair Armstrong were also on target for the rampant Robins.

While the Argyle players' performances have simply not been good enough of late, the spotlight of scrutiny is bound to be fiercest on Rooney and the question is whether the head coach can find a way of turning around their fortunes.

There were six changes to Argyle’s starting line-up against Bristol City from the midweek mauling at Norwich, with key defender Lewis Gibson among them.

Also coming into the side were Nathanael Ogbeta, Jordan Houghton, Ryan Hardie, who had missed the previous two matches due to a groin injury, Adam Forshaw and Freddie Issaka.

Dropping down to the bench were Matty Sorinola, Darko Gyabi, Mustapha Bundu, Callum Wright and Andre Gray, while defender Kornel Szucs was not in the squad at all.

Houghton was the Argyle captain as summer signing Ogbeta made just his fourth start for the club, and his first since being substituted at half-time in the 3-0 defeat at Leeds United at the start of November.

Ogbeta played at left-back as Argyle lined up in a 4-1-4-1 formation with Houghton the deepest of a central midfield trio which also included Adam Randell and Forshaw.

Victor Palsson was at right-back, alongside Julio Pleguezuelo, Gibson and Ogbeta in defence, while Hardie was the lone striker for the Pilgrims, although the aim was clearly for him to get support from Mumba and Issaka in the wide positions.

City were almost gifted an early opportunity after a weak back pass from Forshaw inside a congested Argyle penalty area but goalkeeper Dan Grimshaw got to the ball just before striker Nahki Wells and made the clearance.

Former Pilgrims’ loan signing Zak Vyner fired wide for City from 20 yards out before Jason Knight failed to make proper contact with an unchallenged header from a Max Bird corner as the ball flashed across the face of goal.

Wells could not apply a finishing touch after a driven cross from Cam Pring was deflected across to him beyond the far post while another strike from distance by Vyner flew over the angle of Grimshaw’s left post and the crossbar.

Pring and Mehmeti were finding far too much space on the left as City dominated the play, which resulted in Mumba being moved across to the Argyle right and Issaka swapping with him.

Pleguezuelo did well to react swiftly and concede a corner after a dangerous ball was played to the feet of Twine inside the visitors’ box before Grimshaw made an excellent low save to push away a Mehmeti shot from 20 yards out.

The ball rebounded out to Pring, who had an angled strike deflected and the Argyle keeper then tipped a subsequent follow-up attempt from Wells over the bar, but the offside flag was raised anyway.

Gibson slid in to cut out an attempted cross from Yu Hirakawa as the Pilgrims continued to come under pressure and City almost broke the deadlock in added time at the end of the first half.

A well-struck low shot from Mehmeti forced another excellent low save out of Grimshaw and although Wells followed up to put the loose ball into the net his celebrations, and those of his team-mates, were cut short by an offside flag.

Moments later, referee Tim Robinson blew his whistle for half-time and Argyle were able to go in at the break with the game still level.

The Pilgrims had their first shot on target early in the second period when a decent low strike from Hardie was comfortably dealt with by goalkeeper Max O’Leary, who had previously been untested all game.

City then threatened to break the deadlock from a Twine corner, which was met by a header from McNally but was straight at Grimshaw, who also saved an angled strike from Mehmeti as the Pilgrims came under more pressure.

Twiner should have opened the scoring when with Argyle’s defence stretched the ball was played to him on the edge of the box and in a central position but he sent his shot wide of Grimshaw’s left post.

The Argyle ‘keeper was being kept very busy and produced another superb stop when Twine let fly from 10 yards out before the same City player crashed a shot against the underside of the bar.

The Robins’ almost relentless pressure finally paid off in the 58th minute when a strike from Mehmeti was redirected by Twine past Grimshaw and into the net.

Before play restarted, Hardie and Issaka were replaced by Gray and Obafemi, and the Pilgrims soon conceded a second goal when Mehmeti beat Grimshaw with a well-placed shot in the 62nd minute.

City had taken complete control after Hardie’s shot at the start of the second half and, once again, it looked like Argyle were headed for another heavy defeat.

The Robins scored their third goal in the 70th minute with a shot high into the net by Mehmeti after the Argyle defence was left completely exposed by clever play from Wells and Grimshaw was given no protection at all.

Houghton picked up an injury which meant he was replaced by 19-year-old Caleb Roberts and Argyle went on to concede a fourth goal in the 90th minute when City substitute Sinclair Armstrong raced clear and slotted low past Grimshaw.

Obafemi had an added time strike saved by O’Leary before Robinson mercifully blew for full-time and ended the agony for Argyle, with loud boos coming from those of the magnificent 3,000-strong travelling Green Army who had remained until the end.

ARGYLE: Dan Grimshaw; Victor Palsson, Julio Pleguezuelo, Lewis Gibson, Nathanael Ogbeta; Freddie Issaka (Michael Obafemi 62 mins), Adam Randell, Jordan Houghton (Caleb Roberts 80 mins), Adam Forshaw, Bali Mumba; Ryan Hardie (Andre Gray 62 mins).

Substitutes: Marko Marosi, Callum Wright, Mustapha Bundu, Darko Gyabi, Rami Al Hajj, Matty Sorinola.

BRISTOL CITY: Max O’Leary; Zak Vyner, Rob Dickie, Luke McNally, Cam Pring; Max Bird, Jason Knight; Yu Hirakawa (Sam Bell 88 mins), Scott Twine (George Earthy 66 mins), Anis Mehmeti; Nahki Wells (Sinclair Armstrong 75 mins).

Substitutes: Stefan Bajic, Rob Atkinson, Fally Mayulu, Haydon Roberts, Harry Cornick, Elijah Morrison.

REFEREE: Tim Robinson

You can read more of our Argyle stories from Plymouth Live by clicking HERE