Wayne Rooney sent-off before Plymouth Argyle clinch dramatic victory

Rooney was red-carded in the closing stages of the Championship game against Blackburn Rovers at Home Park but Argyle still went on to win 2-1

Wayne Rooney was sent-off as Plymouth Argyle conceded a controversial late equaliser only for Morgan Whittaker to come up with a dramatic last-gasp goal to clinch a 2-1 victory over Blackburn Rovers at Home Park.

It was a third consecutive Championship win at Home Park for the Pilgrims, who moved up to 14th position with 11 points from their first nine games this season, going into the second international break of 2024/25.

On-loan Burnley striker Michael Obafemi had opened the scoring for Argyle in the 16th minute and they held that lead until the 86th minute when Blackburn substitute Joe Rankin-Costello scored with a looping header.

Rooney and his backroom staff were furious the Pilgrims had not been awarded a free-kick in the build-up to the goal for a trip on substitute Ryan Hardie, who was back defending in his own penalty area, and their anger led to the Pilgrims’ boss being sent-off by referee James Linington.

However, with Rooney watching from the tunnel area, a fired up Argyle finished the game strongly and Whittaker headed home in the seventh and final minute of added time as Home Park exploded into noise.

Joe Edwards returned to captain the side against Blackburn. He had sat out the midweek 1-0 defeat away to Burnley after picking up a knock.

That was one of three changes to the team for the Pilgrims’ last game before the second international break of the season. Bali Mumba and Obafemi were also called up by Rooney.

Hardie dropped down to the substitutes’ bench and there was no place in the matchday squad for Nathanael Ogbeta and Victor Palsson after the trio had all started against Burnley.

Ogbeta and Palsson carried out some running on the pitch more than an hour before kick-off under the supervision of head of sports science Connor Derbidge, and they were joined by Argyle’s new signing Andre Gray.

Experienced striker Gray, brought in as a free agent on Friday because of the long-term hamstring injury to Muhamed Tijani, did not receive his international clearance in time to be included in the squad against Rovers. The 33-year-old had last played for Al-Riyadh in the Saudi Pro League.

Argyle’s substitutes included teenage attacker Freddie Issaka on his return from a knee injury while first-year apprentice Tegan Finn, who is highly rated by Rooney, was named in a matchday squad for the first time.

Obafemi led the attack for Argyle, while Edwards and Mumba filled the two full-back positions. Blackburn had a good scoring chance within 30 seconds of the kick-off after Kornel Szucs carelessly gave the ball away.

Rovers created a shooting opportunity for 6ft 5in Senegalese striker Makhtar Gueye and his attempt was on target but Lewis Gibson got back to make a vital block and goalkeeper Dan Grimshaw then grabbed the ball.

Gueye’s aerial threat was obvious from early on. He sent one header narrowly over the bar after a cross from the right, although he was ruled to have fouled Edwards in doing so by Linington.

Grimshaw made a good save to deny Andreas Weimann, when he flicked the ball towards goal after being played in by Gueye, before Argyle opened the scoring with their first chance of the match.

Whittaker played an excellent ball out to Ibrahim Cissoko on the left and his eventual low cross reached Obafemi in a central position and he shot high into the net for the first goal of his loan spell from Burnley.

Argyle almost had a second goal soon afterwards as Cissoko cut inside onto his right foot and his curling shot was touched over the bar by ‘keeper Aynsley Pears at full stretch.

Obafemi was looking as sharp as he had done since joining the Pilgrims in August and on one occasion his low cross after speeding past Blackburn defender Danny Batth inside the penalty area had to be put behind by Dominic Hyam.

Gueye then had the ball in the net for Rovers when he latched onto a slide rule pass from Weimann but his goal celebrations were cut short by an offside flag.

There was almost a second goal for Obafemi in the 33rd minute when he beat Batth to a bouncing ball on the edge of the Blackburn box after it had been played forward by Adam Randell. The striker stumbled slightly but regained his balance before sending a shot just wide of Pears’s right post.

The passing ability of Grimshaw was evident when he very accurately played the ball out to Rami Al Hajj in midfield, who touched it on for Darko Gyabi. The Leeds United loanee drove forward and his left-foot shot was just inches wide of the goal.

Cissoko took a knock late in the first half after a tackle on him but was able to continue playing after receiving attention from Argyle’s head of performance Gareth Law. The Dutch under-21 winger had the first scoring opportunity of the second period but curled a first-time shot high and wide from 18 yards out.

There was a much better chance for Cissoko to make it 2-0 when the ball was chipped across to him by Obafemi but the loan signing from Toulouse completely missed his kick with the Blackburn goal at his mercy.

Edwards also had a good chance to extend the Pilgrims’ lead but his first-time left-foot shot was too close to Pears who pushed the ball away for a corner.

Argyle were pressing hard for another goal and next Adam Randell had a low drive from distance which produced a superb low save from Pears as he dived to his left.

Cissoko then forced another stop out of the busy Pears, this time from close range and on the angle, after he had got past Rovers’ right-back Hayden Carter.

Obafemi was replaced by Hardie as Rooney made his first substitution in the 62nd minute. Hardie soon set up Whittaker for a shot which he scooped over the bar.

Two Blackburn substitutes then combined for their best chance of the second half up until that point as Amario Cozier-Duberry won a 50-50 tackle with Mumba and played the ball to Yuki Ohashi, whose strike was blocked behind for a corner by defender Lewis Gibson.

There were two more Argyle substitutions in the 71st minute when Mustapha Bundu and Callum Wright were sent on for Cissoko and Al Hajj. Almost immediately, Hardie set up Bundu for a first-time shot, which was touched wide by the diving Pears.

Moments later, a driven low cross from Hardie was just out of the reach of Wright as he slid in to try to get the finishing touch.

The play was now swinging from one end of the pitch to the other and it needed a terrific, full-blooded tackle from Edwards to put the ball out for a corner after Ohashi had raced into the penalty area for Rovers.

Gyabi was replaced by Jordan Houghton in the 83rd minute after taking a knock before Blackburn equalised three minutes later with a looping far post header from Rankin-Costello, which Rooney being shown the red card in the aftermath of it

However, there was to be even more drama as Argyle piled on the pressure in added time and they were rewarded in the seventh extra minute with the winning goal. Gibson hit a diagonal cross into the Blackburn penalty area and Randell nodded it back inside to Whittaker, who guided a header into the corner of the net.

Argyle could celebrate their victory only a few moments later and the players were joined on the pitch by Rooney, who received a hero’s reception from the jubilant Green Army.

ARGYLE: Dan Grimshaw; Joe Edwards, Kornel Szucs, Lewis Gibson, Bali Mumba; Adam Randell; Morgan Whittaker, Darjo Gyabi (Jordan Houghton 83 mins), Rami Al Hajj (Callum Wright 71 mins), Ibrahim Cissoko (Mustapha Bundu 71 mins); Michael Obafemi (Ryan Hardie 62 mins).

Substitutes: Marko Marosi, Julio Pleguezuelo, Brendan Galloway, Freddie Issaka, Tegan Finn.

BLACKBURN: Aynsley Pears; Hayden Carter, Danny Batth (Joe Rankin-Costello 65 mins), Dominic Hyam, Harry Pickering; Sondre Tronstad, Lewis Travis; Andreas Weimann (Amario Cozier-Duberry 65 mins), Ryan Hedges (Arnior Sigurdsson 76 mins), Tyrhys Dolan (Todd Cantwell 57 mins); Makhtar Gueye (Yuki Ohashi 57 mins).

Substitutes: Balazs Toth, Kyle McFadzean, John Buckley, Lewis Baker.

REFEREE: James Linington

ATTENDANCE: 16,635 (1,091)

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