Oxford United 2-0 Plymouth Argyle: Wayne Rooney's Pilgrims beaten again
Report and free match highlights from the Sky Bet Championship match between Oxford United and Plymouth Argyle at the Kassam Stadium on Sunday; Ciaron Brown and Przemyslaw Placheta seal U's win as pressure piles on Wayne Rooney.
Sunday 29 December 2024 18:27, UK
Ciaron Brown and Przemyslaw Placheta both scored for the second game running to help Gary Rowett make it two wins from two as Oxford's new boss with a 2-0 victory over Championship's bottom club Plymouth.
This was an 11th defeat in 13 games on the road for Argyle's under-pressure manager Wayne Rooney.
Northern Ireland international Brown met Tyler Goodrham's cross with a diving header to put the U's in front in the 14th minute.
Both teams struck the bar before Placheta doubled the lead with a superb individual goal in the 61st minute, outpacing Brendan Galloway and turning back on himself inside the area to fire low past keeper Conor Hazard.
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Rowett had named an unchanged starting line-up after the 3-2 Boxing Day win over Cardiff, while Rooney brought back four players following the Pilgrims' 4-0 drubbing to Bristol City, including Hazard for his first game since August.
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Placheta saw plenty of the ball on the right in the opening minutes and he forced the corner which led to Brown breaking the deadlock.
That brought the familiar chants of "you're getting sacked in the morning" not just from the home fans, but many in the away section too, towards ex-Manchester United and England striker Rooney.
It needed a smart save from Hazard with his foot to keep out Mark Harris' shot after a skilful lay-off by Ruben Rodrigues.
Argyle forced their first corner in the 27th minute, and their first effort on goal as Morgan Whittaker met Adam Randell's far-post delivery with a looping header that Jamie Cumming saved beneath his crossbar.
A corner at the other end moments later by Goodrham caused chaos in the Plymouth box with no defender attacking it.
The Devon outfit went close just after the half hour when U's midfielder Will Vaulks deflected Rami Al Hajj's shot from 14 yards onto the bar.
Cumming then saved Bali Mumba's low drive by his near post.
Oxford remained on top though and Cameron Brannagan instigated a flowing move that ended with Hazard saving Placheta's angled drive.
United defender Greg Leigh also hit the bar with a header, from another Goodrham corner, just before the break.
Plymouth worked their way into some good attacking positions in the second half but had no-one to pull the trigger with a menacing shot, and Placheta's superb second goal knocked the stuffing out of them.
It is just the second time this season that Oxford have chalked up back-to-back wins, and lifted them three points above the relegation places.
The managers
Oxford's Gary Rowett:
"What I liked about it was I thought it was a step up from the performance the other day.
"I thought we moved the ball really well first half, and thought we did it for longer, had better periods of control and created some good opportunities.
"We were maybe a little bit unlucky first half not to maybe get another goal.
"I thought we defended better and our shape was a little more diligent, and we still looked a threat."
Plymouth's Wayne Rooney:
"You have to look at every possible outcome, that's normal with the results we're going through. You have to feel 'do we have the players to turn it around? Can I turn it around? Can the coaching staff turn it around?'
"I'll go back and try to prepare for Bristol but ultimately I know football and how it works. I understand the fans. I've been there myself. As a fan you want to see your team win, to see your team running, making tackles and when your team is losing games, as we are, the frustration is there. I get it. I know the work we're doing is good work. Unfortunately we're not getting the results.
"It wasn't good enough. We didn't create enough chances, the goals we conceded - we didn't do enough to stop them scoring goals. Defensively this has been going on for a few weeks now. We've been trying to score goals but we didn't hurt them enough today."
