Plymouth Argyle late fightback just comes up short against Lincoln City

Plymouth Argyle have lost their opening three league games of a season for the first time in 30 years after being beaten 3-2 by Lincoln City at the LNER Stadium.

Not since 1995, when the Pilgrims were in the fourth division of English football, have they failed to pick up a single point from the first three matches, although they did go on to be promoted by winning a play-off final against Darlington at Wembley.

Tom Cleverley’s Argyle trailed 3-0 midway through the second half but they did belatedly make a fight of it by getting two quickfire goals from substitute Owen Oseni and Xavier Amaechi, only to then have Brendan Wiredu sent-off in the 86th minute for a second bookable offence.

It is now eight goals conceded in three League One games for the Pilgrims, which highlights the urgency for the club to strengthen their defensive options before the summer transfer window closes on September 1.

Argyle are also one of three teams in the division yet to pick up a point at the start of this term, with the other two being Peterborough United and Reading.

The Pilgrims’ starting line-up against Lincoln showed one change from their last League One game, the 2-0 defeat by Bolton Wanderers the previous Saturday. That saw Wiredu come into the side for Brendan Galloway, who was named among the substitutes.

Galloway had been ruled out of the 3-2 Carabao Cup first round victory over Queens Park Rangers at Home Park on Tuesday by a calf issue but was fit enough to be on the bench at the LNER Stadium. The same applied to midfielder Caleb Roberts, who had overcome an ankle/heel problem.

Argyle were still without six injured players, though, with Conor Hazard, Joe Edwards, Jack MacKenzie, Julio Pleguezuelo, Jamie Paterson and Freddie Issaka all ruled out.

Striker Owen Oseni had scored two of the goals in the Pilgrims’ win against QPR but Bim Pepple was picked by Cleverley to lead the attack at Lincoln.

Ayman Benarous and Tegan Finn also had good games in the midweek Carabao Cup tie but they were back among the substitutes for the clash with Lincoln, who had former Argyle player-of-the-year Sonny Bradley in the centre of their defence.

Matty Sorinola filled in at left-back for the Pilgrims, with Wiredu and Victor Palsson in the centre of defence and Kornel Szucs in the right-back role.

Caleb Watts had an early attempt on goal for Argyle following a long throw-in from Szucs but was straight at Lincoln goalkeeper George Wickens and lacked the power to trouble him.

The Pilgrims had conceded the first goal in their previous three games this season and that trend continued as City went ahead in only the sixth minute with a fine strike from 18 yards out by Tom Bayliss, which beat Luca Ashby-Hammond as he dived to his left and the ball clipped the inside of the post before nestling in the net.

People had a powerful shot from distance which flew wide before Lincoln caught the Pilgrims with a break down the left and the ball was played inside by striker James Collins to Rob Street, whose first-time shot was too high.

It was almost 2-0 to City when Tendayi Darikwa played in a cross from the right and a slip from Palsson left Collins with a free close range header but Ashby-Hammond was able to get his gloves on the ball and it looped up onto the top of the net rather than inside it.

Lincoln were given another good scoring chance when Argyle midfielder Brendan Ibrahim made an off-the-ball shove on Collins which resulted in the home side being awarded a free-kick inside the ‘D’ of the penalty area.

It was an excellent shooting position and given the quality of finish for his early goal it was surprising that it was not Bayliss who took it but Reeco Hackett instead, who curled the ball harmlessly over the bar.

Xavier Amaechi sent a header too high for Argyle as they chased an equaliser while Ashny-Hammond had to make a low save near his right post to keep out a drive from Hackett.

Amaechi had another scoring opportunity when the ball was touched into his path by Bali Mumba, who had made a surging run towards the penalty area, but when he cut inside onto his left foot his shot was easily saved by Wickens.

Ashby-Hammond then had to make another good low diving save when Collins let fly from 30 yards out, with the Argyle keeper pushing the ball wide for a corner.

It remained 1-0 to Lincoln until the interval which meant the Pilgrims had trailed at half-time in all four of their games at the start of the 2025/26 season.

Cleverley made a double substitution for the start of the second period with Galloway and Roberts sent on in straight positional swaps for Palsson and Ibrahim respectively and the opening minutes after the restart passed off uneventfully.

Watts was yellow-carded for a foul on Lincoln’s Freddie Draper before Amaechi went close to an Argyle equaliser as he drove inside from the right and his fierce left-foot shot flew narrowly wide.

Another two Argyle changes followed before Lincoln’s goal kick, with Watts and Pepple making way for Finn and Oseni, but moments later Lincoln extended their lead to 2-0.

It came when a downward header from Street was pushed out by Ashby-Hammond and Collins got to the loose ball before Galloway and slotted into the empty net.

It did not take long for Lincoln to go even further ahead. Wiredu was penalised for a handball after he blocked a header on goal by Hackett and Collins coolly tucked the ball into the net as Ashby-Hammond dived in the opposition direction.

Collins did not get the chance to go on and complete his hat-trick as he was replaced by Ben House before play restarted.

Mumba headed wide from a rare Argyle second half attack before House had a fierce shot parried away by Ashby-Hammond as Lincoln pressed forward in search of adding to their goal tally, and a follow-up from Street was deflected into the side netting for a corner.

Argyle did manage to pull a goal back in the 78th minute when Amaechi played the ball through to Oseni, who shrugged off a challenge from Lincoln defender Tom Hamer as he cut inside onto his left foot and placed a shot past Wickens.

Finn then had a close range attempt blocked into the side netting and the Pilgrims scored again from the resulting corner as Amaechi fired past Wickens from a very tight angle after swapping passes with Mumba.

Suddenly, Argyle were attacking at will and an equaliser seemed a possibility, but their hopes of getting one suffered a setback when Wiredu was sent-off after referee Carl Brook deemed he had dived inside the Lincoln penalty area after going in for a challenge with Ethan Hamilton and showed him a second yellow card, followed by a red.

Argyle kept pushing forward into seven minutes of added time in search of a dramatic equaliser, with Ashby-Hammond even going up for a corner, but Lincoln just about held on for the win. For the Pilgrims, it was another bitterly disappointing defeat.

ARGYLE: Luca Ashby-Hammond; Kornel Szucs, Brendan Wiredu, Victor Palsson (Brendan Galloway h/t), Matty Sorinola (Ayman Benarous 84 mins); Bradley Ibrahim (Caleb Roberts h/t), Malachi Boateng; Xavier Amaechi, Caleb Watts (Tegan Finn 57 mins), Bali Mumba; Bim Pepple (Owen Oseni 57 mins).

Substitutes (not used): Zak Baker, Joe Hatch.

LINCOLN: George Wickens; Tendayi Darikwa, Tom Hamer, Sonny Bradley, Ryley Towler; Tom Bayliss, Conor McGrandles; Rob Street, Freddie Draper (Ethan Hamilton 73 mins), Reeco Hackett (Erik Ring 73 mins); James Collins (Ben House 66 mins).

Substitutes (not used): Zach Jeacock, Zane Okoro, Gbolahan Okewoye, Charlie Carlisle.

REFEREE: Carl Brook

ATTENDANCE: 8,503 (1,094)

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