Heroic 10-man Pilgrims secure Luton victory

PLYMOUTH Argyle clinched their first League One away win of the season as they beat Luton Town 3-2 in an incident-packed match at Kenilworth Road.

- By CHRIS ERRINGTON

The Pilgrims did so despite the 50th minute dismissal of captain Joe Edwards, who was shown a straight red card by referee Ollie Yates for a challenge on Millenic Alli. The score was 2-2 at the time and Luton had just equalised for the second time with a penalty from halftime substitute Nahki Wells.

Argyle head coach Tom Cleverley was also sent-off later in the second period, but moments after he had made his way around the side of the pitch to the tunnel, his side were celebrating taking the lead again.

The goal owed to some good fortune, with an attempted clearance from Luton captain Jordan Clark hitting midfielder Bradley Ibrahim and the ball rebounded into the net, but the Pilgrims then defended magnificently in the closing stages to pick up maximum points.

Matty Sorinola had opened the scoring for Argyle in the 15th minute with a diving, close range header but Luton were soon level after a penalty from Jerry Yates.

Ibrahim then restored the Pilgrims’ lead in the fifth minute of added time at the end of the first half with a terrific shot, but the drama was far from over as Luton dominated the second half and mounted attack after attack but it was the away side who eventually came out on top.

Hungarian defender Kornel Szucs suffered a knee ligament injury in training and faces a spell on the sidelines. In his absence, former Denmark under-21 international Mathias Ross made his first league start for the Pilgrims after joining them towards the end of the summer transfer window.

That was the only change to Argyle’s team from the 4-2 victory over Stockport County at Home Park, with Cleverley again sending the Pilgrims out in a 3-4-2-1 formation.

Former Luton duo Brendan Galloway and Bim Pepple were added to the substitutes’ bench, as was 19-year-old on-loan Middlesbrough midfielder Law McCabe for his first match with the Pilgrims.