Dramatic finale takes the shine off Marriott strike

Everything looked so rosy for Posh at Home Park after the first 15 minutes.

Sadly, the last 15 minutes weren’t so bright and led to a controversial defeat for Steve Evans’ men.

Posh went ahead when the league’s leading scorer Jack Marriott took his tally to 32 goals with a superb ninthminute finish as he pounced on a George Cooper pass to lob Argyle goalkeeper Kyle Letheren.

Plymouth levelled on 27 minutes when they swept the ball down the left wing and skipper Gary Sawyer’s pinpoint cross to the near post was deftly headed into the far corner - past Conor O’Malley - by Argyle target man Ryan Taylor.

It stayed at 1-1 for the next hour and a draw against a side who’d won their last five home matches would have perhaps been a fair result for Posh.

But a dramatic finale to the contest took the shine off all Posh’s good work.

Plymouth playmaker Graham Carey tucked away a stoppage-time penalty winner as Argyle stole all three points and Posh finished with nine men.

They were reduced to 10 men in the 75th-minute when right-back Liam Shephard was harshly shown a straight red card for violent conduct on Carey off the ball.

And then Steven Taylor was dismissed for a second bookable offence as he tried delaying Carey’s spot-kick which was awarded for a foul by Jack Baldwin on full-back Oscar Threlkeld.

Posh suffered a blow before kick-off with the news that Marcus Maddison had rolled his ankle in training on Friday and had failed a late fitness test.

George Cooper and Anthony Grant came into the side, with Joe Ward also missing out.

Cooper twice went close to scoring in the first half first after some excellent football between Grant, Gwion Edwards and Leo Da Silva created a chance - and then again with a 30-yard effort that skimmed the crossbar after good play in midfield from Chris Forrester and Grant.

Sonny Bradley sent a header over the bar from a deep Carey corner-kick near the end of the first half, and Argyle made a strong start to the second period with Ru- ben Lameiras clipping the outside of the post from a deflected effort from 20 yards.

The referee then became more involved with Shephard cautioned for a heavy challenge before Cooper was booked for dissent after being fouled.

Not long afterwards Shephard received his marching orders for catching Carey off the ball.

With Posh down to 10 men, O’Malley was forced to produce a superb stop with his legs to deny substitute Joel Grant on 83 minutes, then three minutes before injury time goalscorer Taylor was cautioned for catching Baldwin in an aerial duel.

O’Malley pulls off superb stop with his legs

Anthony Grant cuts a dejected figure after the game.