Plymouth Argyle 2-1 Sheffield United: Blades blunted by late double

Quality’s missing – Chris Wilder

By Jack James

PLYMOUTH ARG 2

Hardie 81, Tijani 88

SHEFFIELD UTD 1

Rak-Sakyi 44

Sheffield United boss Chris Wilder bemoaned a lack of quality as his side’s promotion bid was hit by defeat at Championship basement side Plymouth Argyle.

Substitute striker Muhamed Tijani scored an 88th-minute winner for the Pilgrims to snatch the three points.

Ryan Hardie had cancelled out Jesurun Rak-Sakyi’s opener for the Blades to give the home side the platform to go on and win the match.

Blades boss Wilder criticised his side for a lack of quality shown throughout the match.

Clinical

He said: “The biggest message was to go and be clinical; we did what we needed to do in getting the first goal.

“We never really showed the quality we should be showing at the top end of the pitch.

“We have not been good enough in the last three games.”

Argyle boss Miron Muslic recalled Jordan Houghton, Nathaneal Ogbeta, Victor Palsson and Callum Wright following the 3-0 midweek defeat at Swansea City.

Wilder made five changes to the Blades side beaten at home by Millwall on Tuesday.

In came Callum O’Hare, Jesurun Rak-Sakyi, Harry Clarke, Vini Souza and striker Tom Cannon.

Match action

United’s former Argyle keeper Michael Cooper remained untroubled for the first 25 minutes by a shot-shy Plymouth.

The closest either side came to getting an effort on goal in the early stages was when United skipper Jack Robinson looped a header over from a 12th-minute Rak-Sakyi corner.

Argyle’s first effort on goal was when home skipper Adam Randell volleyed over the bar from distance in the 28th minute.

Cooper’s first action came in the 37th minute when he had to race out of his area to clear a through ball to Argyle forward Mustpha Bundu down the right wing.

Bundu had appeals turned down a minute before as he tangled with marker Robinson and Cooper on the edge of the United penalty area as he attempted to latch on to a towering ball into the box.

United took the lead through Rak-Sakyi in the 44th minute as he cut in from the right, following a superb cross-field pass from Gustavo Hamer.

Rak-Sakyi sent marker Ogbeta the wrong way, and let fly with his left into the far corner past diving keeper Conor Hazard.

Second half

Hazard made a superb 51st-minute save to deny Rak-Sakyi a second, diving low to his right to keep out the striker’s left-foot shot from just inside the area after Sydie Peck’s pass put the scorer in on goal.

Anel Ahmedhodzic then had his downward header from a Hamer corner saved on the line by Hazard.

United failed to clear Randell’s 64th-minute free-kick into the area, following a foul on Tijani, and then Hardie’s shot on the spin flew off the top of the bar.

Target man Kieffer Moore was introduced for Cannon as part of a triple substitution after 68 minutes as United sought to build on their lead.

But it was Argyle who scored next, in-form Hardie clinically finishing from close range, shooting first-time after latching on to substitute Joe Edwards’s scissor-kick following a Randell corner.

Tijani then scored from 12 yards out after United failed to clear Bali Mumba’s dangerous cross and the ball fell kindly to the striker.

Star Man – Jesurun Rak-Sakyi (Sheffield Utd)

READ MORE: Sheffield United suffer further Championship promotion setback after shock defeat to Millwall