Plymouth Bow Out Despite Brave FA Cup Fight
Plymouth Argyle’s bid to make it to the fifth round of the FA Cup is at an end after the Vertu Motors-backed side slipped to defeat against Leeds United in their fourth round replay.
Argyle had secured a fine draw at Elland Road in the fourth round tie to earn a replay at Home Park, which would be played in front of live TV cameras as the game aired on BBC1.
Having beaten Swansea for a first away league win of the season at the weekend, Argyle faced a huge challenge as Leeds made the trip to Home Park to determine who would go up against Chelsea or Aston Villa in the next round.
Boss Ian Foster was forced to make changes with Adam Forshaw, Alfie Devine, Darko Gyabi and Lino Sousa all ineligible – whilst there was also a need to shuffled the pack somewhat as the club dealt with a run of seven games in little over three weeks.
With eight first team players missing in total, and a number of unproven youngsters called into the squad, Plymouth battled hard in the opening half of the tie as both sides had chances to hit the front.
Leeds however hit the front 20 minutes into the second half, when pressure on Connor Hazard’s goal eventually resulted in Wilfried Gnonto hitting the opening goal.
Argyle refused to give up however, and when a free-kick into the box found Ashley Phillips at the back post, he was able to knock the ball back across goal for Brendon Galloway to chest in the equaliser.
Both sides had chances to win the game before the final whistle, which meant the game headed into Extra Time, and it was here where the extra strength in depth on the bench would prove to be the difference for the away side.
Star forward Crysencio Summerville came on to put Leeds into the lead with a curling shot seven minutes into extra time and he then played in fellow substitute Georginio Rutter to make it 3-1 after the break.
A late fourth after Ryan Hardie flicked a corner into his own net gave an unfair reflection to the end result as Argyle exited the competition to leave focus firmly on the league over the remainder of the campaign.