Saturday, April 11, 2009

Plymouth 4 Coventry 0 - 11/04/2009

Plymouth 4 Coventry 0 - 11/04/2009

Plymouth Argyle: Romain Larrieu, Marcel Seip, David Gray, Chris Barker, Gary Sawyer, Karl Duguid, Jamie Mackie (Rudolphe Mbela Doualla 74), Alan Judge (Chris Clark 74), Carl Fletcher, Ashley Barnes (Rory Fallon 74), Paul Gallagher
Subs not used: Krisztian Timar, Lloyd Saxton
Goals: Ashley Barnes 15, Jamie Mackie 26, Alan Judge 27, Marcel Seip 37

Coventry City: Keiren Westwood (Andy Marshall 50), Ben Turner, Scott Dann, Daniel Fox, Aron Gunnarsson (Kevin Thornton 29), Michael Doyle, Isaac Osbourne, Guillaume Beuzelin, Robbie Simpson, Freddy Eastwood, Clinton Morrison
Subs not used: Elliott Ward, Marcus Hall, Ashley Cain
Booked: Michael Doyle 45, Scott Dann 13, Daniel Fox 77, Clinton Morrison 65
Goals: Freddy Eastwood 12, Julian Gray 68

Attendance: 12568
Referee: C Oliver

Teamtalk
Plymouth Argyle scored a hatful of goals in an explosive first half to down visitors Coventry 4-0 and ease their Championship relegation fears.

The hosts snatched the lead after 15 minutes at Home Park on Saturday through young striker Ashley Barnes.

Boss Paul Sturrock kept faith with the 19-year-old following an energetic performance in the 1-0 win at Blackpool last weekend, and he rewarded his manager by reacting first to a deflection off a visiting defender to head home from six yards.

Jamie Mackie, Alan Judge and Marcel Seip then all scored within 11 first-half minutes to have the game wrapped up by half-time in front of a crowd of 12,568.

Chris Coleman's side were guilty of sluggish defending for the opener and it was a similar story 11 minutes later as the Pilgrims doubled their lead.

Goalkeeper Keiren Westwood misjudged a flighted ball into his area and his fumbled take fell straight to striker Mackie who swept the ball home.

Argyle smelt blood and on-loan Blackburn midfielder Judge slammed home a ferocious 27th-minute volley from the edge of the area.

More poor defending led to the third goal as centre-back Seip ghosted in behind the Coventry defence to head home Chris Barker's clipped cross to make it 4-0.

Despite the humiliating scoreline, the visitors had goalscoring chances of their own.

But they failed to capitalise as Kevin Thornton's drive forced a brilliant reaction save from Romain Larrieu, while Scott Dann's header clipped the top of the bar.

Coleman must have had stern words for his side during the interval as the visitors were much improved in the second half.

Twelve minutes after the break, they should have grabbed a consolation when full-back Daniel Fox's corner picked out Ben Turner but his close-range header failed to trouble Larrieu.

Larrieu was called into action in the 70th minute when he flung himself to his left to tip Fox's dipping free-kick round the post and out for a corner.

The home side were clearly prepared to settle for four goals and a clean sheet and rarely reached the high-octane level on display in the opening half.

But they came close to extending their lead in the 72nd minute when Carl Fletcher's point-blank header was superbly kept out by substitute keeper Andy Marshall.

There were further late chances for the Sky Blues but Clinton Morrison, Thornton and Fox all failed to reduce the deficit.

The result moves 19th-placed Argyle six points clear of the relegation zone with four games left to play. They are three points behind Coventry, who lie 15th.

CCFC
Plymouth condemned the Sky Blues to their worst defeat of the season on a miserable day at Home Park.

Four first-half goals from Ashley Barnes, Jamie Mackie, Alan Judge and Marcel Seip did the damage, while Keiren Westwood and Aron Gunnarsson were both taken off with injuries.

Chris Coleman stuck with the team who drew at Crystal Palace on Tuesday night.

City's passing was superior in the opening ten minutes but they failed to force a real attack.

Plymouth then took control of the game and scored with their first attempt. Scott Dann fouled the advancing Mackie on the wing, which resulted a yellow card. The free-kick was turned towards goal by Gary Sawyer - only for Westwood to save - but the follow-up cross was headed in by Barnes.

City could have been level a minute later when Clinton Morrison was fed through, but he couldn't connect with the ball properly and Romain Larrieu saved well.

Plymouth came close to extending their lead when a through-ball towards Mackie almost gave him a clear shot at goal, but pressure from Ben Turner was enough to remove the danger.

However, the home side could not been contained for long. A high-ball into the box was challenged for by Mackie and, when Westwood couldn't collect, Mackie tapped the ball into the net.

City protested the decision - but two minutes later the match was beyond doubt when Guillaume Beuzelin lost the ball to Judge, who hit an excellent shot into the top corner.

After the goal, Gunnarsson was replaced by Kevin Thornton due to an injury.

Plymouth maintained their pressure and, after Barnes came close again, they notched a fourth. Paul Gallacher swung in a corner and Seip tapped the ball home from three-yards.

In the 42nd minute, Dan Fox hit a free-kick from 30-yards - but Larrieu turned the ball over the bar.

Beuzelin picked up a yellow card for a foul in the last meaningful incident of the half.

The opening 15 minutes of the second period were stop-start after three injuries.

First, Westwood was replaced by Andy Marshall with a facial injury. Then, referee Clive Oliver suffered a hamstring injury and was replaced by Paul Graham. Finally, play was stopped for several minutes when Judge received a blow to the head.

Play after the stoppages was disjointed and the pace of the game dropped.

City did have two half-chances but could not find the net.

First, a scramble in the Plymouth box eventually rolled in front of Morrison, but he could not hit the target from close range.

Fox then tested Larrieu with another free-kick from range. His strike curled towards the bottom corner but the French shot-stopper palmed the effort wide.

The Sky Blues nearly got a goal back with their last attack of the game - but Morrison's flicked header from a Fox free-kick went just wide.

After three minutes of added time, referee Graham finally called an end to City's worst defeat of the season.

Coventry (4-3-3) : Westwood (Marshall 50); Osbourne, Dann, Turner, Fox; Beuzelin, Doyle, Gunnarsson (Thornton 29); Eastwood, Simpson, Morrison. Subs: Ward, Hall, Cain

Plymouth (4-4-2): Larrieu; Gray, Barker, Seip, Sawyer; Judge (Clark 74), Duguid, Fletcher, Gallagher; Mackie (Douala 74), Barnes (Fallon 74). Subs: Saxton (GK), Timar

Ref: Clive Oliver (Northumberland) - replaced by Paul Graham, 52

4thegame
Plymouth Argyle are on the brink of maintaining their Championship status following a dazzling 4-0 blitz of Coventry City.

First-half goals from Ashley Barnes, Jamie Mackie, Alan Judge and Marcel Seip were more than enough to see off any threat the Sky Blues may have posed to the Greens' relegation survival.

The Pilgrims opened their account on the quarter-hour mark courtesy of Barnes, who claimed the final touch at close range to Gary Sawyer's cut-back, although it may have been that goalkeeper Keiren Westwood got the fatal final touch.

Westwood had done well to keep out a header from his own defender Scott Dann, following a pinpoint free-kick from Paul Gallagher, but merely succeeded in parrying the ball on to Sawyer.

The Greens continued pressing forward and were rewarded for their efforts ten minutes later.

Man-of-the-match Judge delivered a long cross into the box intended for the head of Barnes but, despite Westwood's attempts, his subsequent failure to clear was punished by Mackie, who slotted the loose ball home from the edge of the box.

The cheers of the Home Park faithful were in full force again just a minute later courtesy of some gallant individual work from Judge.

The Irish midfielder, like Gallagher, on loan from Blackburn Rovers, took full advantage of being left unmarked outside the box and blasted into the roof of Coventry's net from 25 yards to further Westwood's woes.

The first half was rounded out close to the interval by Seip after the Dutchman leapt over his marker to latch on to Gallagher's corner and notch Argyle's fourth.

The second half was quieter, but the Pilgrims were denied extending their lead to close to the end of the match.

Substitute goalkeeper Andy Marshall, who came on for the injured Westwood just after the interval, reacted quickest to Carl Fletcher's headed corner and parried the midfielder's effort off the line.

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