as Royals show Day massacre

Pilgrims hammered no mercy in Boxing

- By CHRIS ERRINGTON

PLYMOUTH Argyle's three-match winning run in League One came to a shuddering halt as the Pilgrims crashed to a 4-1 Boxing Day defeat by Reading after being down to 10 players for a large part of the match.

Most of the damage was done to Argyle from the 12th to 20th minutes, with a red card for midfielder Joe Ralls leading to a penalty from which Reading skipper Lewis Wing put his side ahead.

It was imperative the Pilgrims stayed in the game at that early stage despite their numerical disadvantage but they could not do so.

Wing struck again in the 18th minute and a third Reading goal soon followed from Kamari Doyle and a one-sided rout appeared to be on the cards.

However, Argyle were able to work their way into the match towards the end of the first half and they continued to give a good account of themselves after the interval.

So much so that substitute Xavier Amaechi crashed home an unstoppable shot in the 68th minute to cut Reading's lead to 3-1 and then Argyle were awarded a penalty soon afterwards.

Had 14-goal top scorer Lorent Tolaj scored from it, it could have set up a thrilling finish but his spot kick was saved by Joel Pereira and Reading restored their three-goal lead in the closing stages with a fine finish from Jack Marriott.

Argyle dropped three positions to 20th in the League One table after the heavy defeat, with another home game to come against Wycombe Wanderers on Monday night (December 29).

It was the same starting lineup for the Pilgrims for their first home Boxing Day game since 2016 as from the pre-Christmas win away to Doncaster Rovers.

Tolaj and Owen Oseni continued to lead the Pilgrims' attack in a 4-4-2 formation, with the midfield quartet made up of Ayman Benarous, Malachi Boateng, Ralls and Bali Mumba.