Rooney lauds ´excellent´ Plymouth defence in Luton victory

Wayne Rooney showered praise on Plymouth Argyle’s defensive showing after surviving a late onslaught to emerge 3-1 victors against Luton Town at Home Park.

Plymouth took the lead in the eighth minute courtesy of Rami Al Hajj, with the Swede notching his first Pilgrims goal with a curled finish beyond Thomas Kaminski.

The hosts found themselves two goals in front 20 minutes from time after substitute Ibrahim Cissoko shifted the ball onto his left foot before firing a stunning effort into the far corner.

Plymouth’s joy was short-lived, though, as Victor Moses chested down Alfie Doughty’s cross to the back post before striking the ball beyond Daniel Grimshaw less than two minutes later.

The Hatters continued to pile on the pressure in search of an equaliser but were undone by a moment of individual brilliance from Cissoko, who danced his way into the area and saw his first effort blocked, but finished the rebound to move Plymouth up to 13th in the Championship.

Rooney has now guided his side to back-to-back home victories for the first time this season, and said his side had to adapt to Luton’s relentless attacking to emerge victorious.

“I thought it was a good performance for different reasons,” Rooney said.

“I thought first half we were good at times, controlled the tempo of the game and Luton tried to press us, and I think when we showed composure and played through the press we caused them problems.

“Second half we were a little bit sloppy with the ball and gave it away in dangerous areas at times, but I thought defensively our back four, and in particular the two centre-backs, were excellent.

“Luton are very good at set-pieces and I thought we were brilliant defending them and showed great character and desire to go and head the ball, and then the attacking players get all the praise when they score the goals.”

ROONEY! pic.twitter.com/waiLmJSbiV

— Plymouth Argyle FC (@Argyle) September 27, 2024

For Rob Edwards, though, a run of back-to-back victories ended on the South Coast, with his side lacking that clinical edge in front of goal.

The Hatters registered 16 shots during the contest, accumulating an expected goals (xG) total of 1.07, but only two of his side’s efforts were on target.

It is now seven points from their opening seven games for Luton, who could find themselves teetering above the bottom three after this weekend’s fixtures.

“Credit to the opposition, at both ends of the pitch they were better – they were more ruthless at one end and defended better at the other,” Edwards said.

“I think we got into their final third 40-odd times, twice as often as they did, but we didn’t make their goalkeeper work enough.

“We weren’t clinical enough at one and end then didn’t defend well enough at the other -it’s not a good recipe to win a football match.

“It’s really frustrating to come away losing a game talking about both ends of the pitch.”