‘Terrible’ Pilgrims can’t cope with U’s

DEREK Adams slammed his side’s ‘terrible’ defending as Plymouth’s six-game unbeaten run came to a juddering halt at the hands of a resurgent Oxford, who left boss Pep Clotet purring.

The Pilgrims were given an uphill task on 14 minutes when central defender Ryan Edwards saw red for bundling into the back of Wes Thomas.

Ryan Ledson converted the penalty before the U’s ran riot in the second half.

Goals from Thomas, James Henry and substitute Jon Obika ended Oxford’s fourgame winless league run.

Plymouth boss Adams fumed: “The three goals we conceded in the second half were terrible.

“We have to defend a lot better than that because it is not like us.

“We have had a lot of praise defensively recently but the three goals were too easy.

“The red card seemed harsh and it turned the game.

“But to see their players waltz around ours was disappointing.”

The win lifted Oxford to seventh in the table and they are now just two points adrift of the play-off places.

U’s manager Clotet beamed: “It was a great way to bounce back as our performance at Northampton last week (a 2-1 loss) was not good enough.

“Even after the red card, we kept our focus and didn’t get carried away.

“It was a fantastic performance and showed fantastic attitude against a team who are on the up.

“I haven’t seen the red card back but it is a clear penalty because he was in a shooting position. It has to be a red card because he was the last defender.”

Edwards’ dismissal made it six red cards for Plymouth this season and five of those have come at Home Park. Graham Carey came close to an equaliser when his freekick cannoned back off the post, hit keeper Simon Eastwood on the head, and flew wide.

The hosts were denied a penalty five minutes before the interval after Henry appeared to handle Aaron TaylorSinclair’s cross.

Thomas shaved a post on 51 minutes after breaking Argyle’s offside trap but two minutes later, he doubled Oxford’s lead with a close-range finish after Remi Matthews parried Joe Rothwell’s shot.

Henry rattled the crossbar but he was not to be denied as he squeezed the ball through Matthews’ legs from an acute angle.

Obika added the gloss on 77 minutes as he scrambled the ball home from six yards.

STAR MAN JOE ROTHWELL Oxford