McCormick magic has Pilgrims purring

LUKE McCormick’s world-class save was a hot topic of debate as Plymouth produced a classy counter-attacking display to stun Charlton.

The Pilgrims keeper made a spectacular onehanded save to push Josh Magennis’ closerange effort on to the bar.

The first-half stop laid the foundations as Jake Jervis hit a second-half double to hand Plymouth all three points.

But it was McCormick’s sensational save which proved the major talking point.

Charlton boss Karl Robinson said: “That has to be the one of the best saves I have ever seen live.”

And Pilgrims boss Derek Adams purred: “It was an unbelievable save, absolutely brilliant.”

Charlton suffered an early scare when Ahmed Kashi sold Ben Amos short with a back pass and Antoni Sarcevic almost cashed in.

McCormick made a smart near post save to deny Magennis before coming to the rescue with a magnificent piece of goalkeeping.

At the other end Charlton keeper Amos tipped Gary Sawyer’s effort around the post before blocking a Jervis shot from the corner.

Plymouth grabbed the lead on 53 minutes when Jervis bundled in a close-range back-heel.

Charlton’s hopes of an equaliser were dashed after McCormick plunged to his right to push away Karlan AhearneGrant’s shot.

But Plymouth sealed the win on the counter, Jervis racing clear and firing past Amos.

Adams heaped praise on match-winner Jervis, saying: “I am delighted to get the first win of the season.

“Jake has done really well scoring goals. He’s a threat because of his pace but not only that because his goalscoring ability while I have been here through two years has been excellent.

“I took him to my last club Ross County and was fortunate enough to get him to come here as well.

“The allround performance was excellent.”

Robinson accused his side of missing chances and switching off at a set-piece to hand Plymouth the lead.

He said: “We should have won, we should have been out of sight in the first half.

“We knew that the only way they were going to score was from a set-piece. We defended everything superbly and the one we switched off from, we got done.

“Their guy scores two goals and the man of the match was their keeper. Fair play to Plymouth they took their chances and we didn’t.”