Pilgrims alive and kicking in fight to avoid drop

MIRON Muslic declared that Plymouth Argyle are 'still alive' in the fight against Championship relegation after beating Portsmouth 2-1 at Fratton Park.

- By CHRIS ERRINGTON

It was the Pilgrims’ first away league win in 19 attempts this season and brought to an end a run of 20 games without them picking up maximum points on their travels since a 1-0 defeat of Rotherham United in April 2024.

Argyle are still bottom of the table, with nine games left to play, but they are within three points of a trio of clubs - Luton Town, Derby County and Cardiff City - and the win at Portsmouth is a timely psychological boost for the run-in.

Muslic said: "It felt almost like a curse because if you can’t win for such a long time and it’s football, you play so many games, it’s heavy and it takes a lot of energy out of the team, but finally we could turn this trend and reward ourselves.

"In the past we had good away performances, we were very close to beating Sunderland, and finally we could turn this into something very positive. From now on if we go away we have a chance to win and this is a good sign. We started tonight and we have to just continue and then everything is possible."

Ryan Hardie made his first start for Argyle since suffering a back injury last month and provided the assist for Mustapha Bundu’s opening goal in the 44th minute with a deft flick of the ball after an excellent low cross from Michael Obafemi.

Hardie then made it 2-0 early in the second period when he raced onto a ball forward from right wing-back Matty Sorinola and beat Portsmouth goalkeeper Nicolas Schmid at his near post with a low shot.