Plymouth Kick Off 2024 With Six Goal Thriller
Plymouth Argyle kicked off 2024 with a thrilling six-goal draw as the EFL Championship side made it three drawn games from four since the departure of Steven Schumacher.
Director of football Neil Dewsnip had overseen two draws over the Christmas fixtures but faced a stern task in the final game of 2023 with the short trip along the South coast to Southampton – one of the form teams in the division thanks to a 16 game unbeaten run.
After a goalless first half, Argyle thought they had hit the front when Bali Mumba headed in at the back post only for the goal to be wrongly ruled out for offside.
As if that wasn’t bad enough, Southampton promptly took the lead at the other end, with a curling shot from Carlos Alcaraz proving to be too good for Conor Hazard in the Argyle goal.
Che Adams then broke the offside trap to make it 2-0 before a late effort from Ryan Hardie – who nipped in to steal the ball from the toes of ‘keeper Gavin Bazuna to grab a goal back.
The first game of 2024 in horrendous weather conditions at Home Park saw visitors Watford grab an early lead through Edo Kayembe but Argyle responded in fine style as Finn Azaz spectacularly volleyed home an equaliser shortly after Hardie had struck the post.
Morgan Whittaker’s recent run of good form continued when he smashed in a second to put Plymouth in front just before the half hour mark but this time it was Watford who quickly responded as Ismael Kone curled an effort into the corner to make it 2-2.
The first half action wasn’t complete as there was time for one more goal, with Whittaker teeing up Hardie to drive home from the edge of the box to grab Argyle’s third.
The second half saw Watford again fight back through Ryan Andrews and the away side had goalkeeper Ben Hamer to thank as he saved well from both Azaz and Whittaker late on to prevent Argyle from finding a winner.
Plymouth sit 18th in the table and are seven points clear of safety going into an FA Cup third round tie with Sutton United – when a new manager is expected to be in charge.