Ryan Hardie scored twice as a second half substitute as bottom-of-the-table Plymouth Argyle came from behind to beat West Bromwich Albion at Home Park.

It was Miron Muslic’s first victory as the Pilgrims’ boss in his fifth game in charge and ended a run of 15 Championship matches without a win. Following a spirited 2-2 draw away to Sunderland in their previous contest, this was further evidence of new-found fight within Argyle and it offers hope they can escape relegation, although there is still a lot of hard work ahead of them to try to achieve that.

New signings Maksym Talovierov and Nikola Katic started for the Pilgrims after completing their moves to Home Park the previous day and they played their part in a solid defensive display.

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It was goal-less until West Brom took the lead through Jayson Molumby in the 74th minute but Argyle replied soon afterwards with a controversially-awarded penalty for a handball by Callum Styles after a shot from Hardie, who had not been on the pitch for long.

Hardie then struck again in the 88th minute to clinch a first league success for the Pilgrims in 88 days, since they beat Portsmouth 1-0 at Home Park on November 5.

Talovierov and Katic both make Argyle debuts in a starting line-up which showed three changes from the 2-2 draw at Sunderland. Michael Baidoo also came into the side while the trio of Bali Mumba, Victor Palsson and Hardie dropped down to the substitutes' bench.

The Pilgrims lined up in a 3-4-2-1 formation with Talovierov and Katic joined in central defence by Julio Pleguezuelo. Matty Sorinola and Tymoteusz Puchacz were the wing-backs.

Captain Adam Randell was in central midfield alongside Jordan Houghton, while Baidoo and Callum Wright were the attacking support for Mustapha Bundu.

Talovierov gave an early glimpse of being effective at long diagonal passes as he picked out Puchacz on the left and the wing-back put in a very threatening cross but none of his team-mates could get on the end of it.

Argyle played at a good intensity as they tried to take the match to West Brom. Randell linked up well with Bundu and had a shot blocked by former Pilgrims’ goalkeeper Alex Palmer but the captain was flagged offside anyway.

West Brom gradually worked their way into the game, with Mikey Johnston an attacking threat on their left who looked to take on Sorinola at every opportunity.

Randell then made a good break from midfield for Argyle and played the ball through to Wright but he could not take it in his stride into the West Brom penalty area and the visitors were able to halt the attack.

Next, Bundu put in an excellent cross from the right which was just out of the reach of Baidoo but Wright got in a header, with the ball hitting defender Mason Holgate and going wide for a corner.

There continued to be little to choose between the sides as Johnston had a shot for the visitors which bounced awkwardly in front of Conor Hazard and the Argyle keeper had to grab the ball at the second attempt.

It was still goal-less at the break and while chances were few and far between for either side Muslic would have been pleased with how solid his side had been defensively up until that point.

The Argyle head coach made a substitution for the start of the second period as Rami Al Hajj replaced Baidoo, who had struggled to make any impact on the match.

The hosts threatened first after the restart when Wright tried to play in Sorinola but Palmer slid out to get to the ball first. West Brom then almost broke the deadlock following a deep corner from Alex Mowatt which was headed back inside by Holgate but Hazard made a double save, first from John Swift and then Johnston in a goalmouth scramble.

The visitors had most of the possession and Argyle had to work hard to keep them at bay as they switched the play from one side to the other.

Grady Diangana thought he had opened the scoring for West Brom in the 63rd minute with a close range header, following another Mowatt corner which was nodded down by Torbjorn Heggem, but he was flagged offside.

Albion substitute Isaac Price then sent a rasping 25-yard shot just too high when the ball was headed out towards him after a long throw-in from Darnell Furlong.

Muslic then made a double change as Hardie and Michael Obafemi were sent on for Bundu and Wright respectively in the 70th minute with the outcome of the match still very much in balance.

West Brom opened the scoring soon afterwards when Wallace sped away from Katic inside the box and squared the ball inside to Molumby who applied the finishing touch as he slid in.

However, Argyle were soon back on level terms when they were awarded a controversial penalty when referee Dean Whitestone ruled that Callum Styles had handled a shot from Hardie.

After a lengthy delay as West Brom protested to the experienced match official, Hardie slotted the spot kick into the net as Palmer dived the wrong way.

It was just Hardie’s third goal of the season, and his first since he also netted with a penalty in the 3-2 home Championship win against Sunderland in September.

Palsson replaced Katic before play restarted and Argyle then went very close to taking the lead not long afterwards when Hardie cut the ball back to Obafemi, whose first time strike was beaten away by Palmer.

Houghton was replaced by Darko Gyabi in the Pilgrims’ fifth and final substitution before Hardie put Argyle ahead in the 88th minute.

The striker ran onto a cross-field pass from Puchacz and although his initial shot was blocked by Heggem the ball rebounded to Hardie and he sent a low shot across Palmer into the far corner of the net.

ARGYLE: Conor Hazard; Maksym Talovierov, Nikola Katic (Victor Palsson 78 mins), Julio Pleguezuelo; Matty Sorinola, Adam Randell, Jordan Houghton (Darko Gyabi 85 mins), Tymoteusz Puchacz; Michael Baidoo (Rami Al Hajj h/t), Callum Wright (Ryan Hardie 70 mins); Mustapha Bundu (Michael Obafemi 70 mins).

Substitutes (not used): Dan Grimshaw, Bali Mumba, Nathanael Ogbeta, Muhamed Tijani.

WEST BROM: Alex Palmer; Darnell Furlong, Mason Holgate, Torbjorn Heggem, Callum Styles; Alex Mowatt, John Swift (Jayson Molumby 63 mins); Tom Fellows (Isaac Price 63 mins), Grady Diangana (Devante Cole 90 mins), Mikey Johnston (Karlan Grant 63 mins); Jed Wallace (Ousmane Diakitye 84 mins).

Substitutes (not used): Joe Wildsmith, Kyle Bartley, Gianluca Frabotta, Harry Whitwell.

REFEREE: Dean Whitestone

ATTENDANCE: 16,870 (1,735)

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