Plymouth Battle Hard For Derby Point
A battling performance from Plymouth Argyle resulted in a point from the trip to Derby County as Wayne Rooney returned to his former club in the final game before the international break.
The Vertu Motors-backed side headed into the game at Pride Park on the back of a hard-fought win at home to Portsmouth but were chasing just a second point on the road this season – with results having been hard to come by away from Home Park.
With Rooney having launched his managerial career with Derby, his return was the major talking point ahead of the game but it was overshadowed by the strike that saw the Rams take the lead with less than ten minutes on the clock.
After Arygle were unable to clear a corner from the right hand side, the ball popped up into the air perfectly for Jerry Yates to launch himself into the air for an acrobatic overhead kick that flew beyond Dan Grimshaw and into the net.
Derby had chances to extend their lead but having failed to double their advantage, were then pegged back just before half-time – with Yates also having a part to play in the Argyle equaliser.
Plymouth were awarded a free-kick just outside the box and when Adam Randell stepped up to go for goal, his shot took a wicked deflection off Yates that left Jacob Widell Zetterstrom wrong-footed in the Derby net.
In the second half, Grimshaw had to be on his toes to stop a cross from reaching Nathaniel Phillips at the back post before the ‘keeper avoided embarrassment Yates tried an effort from his own half that that the visiting stopper was able to keep out of the net.
A late Curtis Nelson header also couldn’t beat Grimshaw as Plymouth picked up a vital point to move out of the relegation zone and into 18th place.
Argyle will kick off the next run of fixtures in the Championship on 22 November when Watford arrive at Home Park.