Albion gone for a Burton as Argyle cruise to win

PILGRIMS DOMINANT THROUGHOUT AS THEY RECORD ONLY FOURTH HOME LEAGUE WIN

- By CHRIS ERRINGTON

PLYMOUTH Argyle cruised to a convincing 3-0 victory over Burton Albion at Home Park yesterday as they moved out of the bottom four in League One.

It was just the Pilgrims' fourth home league win of their difficult 2025/26 campaign and it was a much-needed one against opposition who started the day above them in the table on goal difference.

Brendan Galloway made his first start for Argyle since returning from playing for Zimbabwe at the Africa Cup of Nations and, playing at left-back, he opened the scoring with a well-struck shot after a corner in the 21st minute.

The Pilgrims were dominant throughout against a Burton side who posed very little attacking threat, and Tom Cleverley's team extended their lead in the 63rd minute with a close range finish from substitute Mathias Ross.

Argyle's third goal came in the 77th minute, a penalty from Lorent Tolaj after Galloway had been fouled, and it was all-too-easy for them after that.

While Burton were very poor to say the least, it was still a very important three points for Argyle, who moved up to 16th position in a very tight League One table.

Argyle's starting lineup showed three changes from the 1-1 New Year's Day draw away to Stevenage with Xavier Amaechi, Brendan Galloway and Julio Pleguezuelo all returning to the team.

Amaechi was in a wide right attacking role in the Pilgrims' 4-4-2 formation, with Malachi Boateng, who scored the equaliser at Stevenage, moving back into a central midfield position alongside Joe Ralls as Brendan Wiredu dropped down to the bench.

Galloway lined-up at left-back instead of Matty Sorinola and Pleguezuelo was in central defence with Alex Mitchell, while captain Joe Edwards continued at right-back.

The Argyle attack was led by Tolaj, who scored twice in the 4-0 away win against Burton in late September, and Bim Pepple, who also scored in that game.