Last-gasp heroes in bizarre game

Teammates join Dean Kelly to celebrate his goal

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Athletic 4, Plymouth 2 

ALL the fun of the fair came to Boundary Park with the arrival of the Plymouth state circus on Saturday.

Clowning around in defence, a rare feat of gaining a lead with only nine men, a tightrope act in trying to keep hold of that advantage and the grand finale – an Athletic victory plucked from the lion’s jaws of defeat.

Paul Dickov will be a very happy ringmaster today.

Visiting Argyle had two players sent off but still looked to be heading for an unlikely point to take back to Devon as this game entered added time.

Behind thanks to an opportunistic, well-taken but defensively hideous Bradley Wright-Phillips goal three minutes into the second half, Athletic rolled their sleeves up in a game of attack versus defence and laid siege to depleted Plymouth’s goal.

Oumare Tounkara levelled the game at 2-2 with around half an hour to go as wave after wave of crosses were pushed into the danger zone, rising to plant a powerful far-post header down and past ‘keeper David Button from a cross by new-boy substitute Filipe Morais.

But big Oumare also missed two glorious headed chances to give the home team the lead.

And Morais also wasted a great opportunity, blasting the ball out of the ground when presented with an open goal as the minutes ticked away.

It appeared as if it was going to be one of those days.

The likes of Plymouth’s dynamic midfielder Craig Noone – who scored the first equaliser – and the calm and impressive Yannick Bolasie really didn’t deserve to be on the losing side.

Reda Johnson was also excellent in the heart of the visitors’ defence, heading away virtually everything.

It was a manful effort improved by the fact that he not only lost his defensive partner Bondz Ngala to a red card after four minutes, then stand-in centre-back Kari Arnason for another sending-off offence in first-half injury time, but also due to his battling beyond what appeared to be a painful ankle knock which left him hobbling around the pitch in the opening period.

Still, all of this was ultimately not enough to gain Plymouth anything from the game.

The first hero for Athletic was Jean-Yves Mvoto.

The centre-back has been thrust upfield to good effect already this season without quite managing to get the rub of the green.

Here, he managed to rise in front of his marker to get just enough of a touch on Dale Stephens’ chipped ball to beat Button and give Athletic a lead – no less than two minutes and 37 seconds into the four minutes of additional time at the end of the regular 90.

Spirits broken, Plymouth then succumbed to another goal when Dean Kelly profited from Kieran Lee’s burst forward and clever cut-back.

It was the Irish striker’s first-ever goal in professional football and the joy at his achievement was plain to see after he headed powerfully into the roof of the net from the centre of the area.

It was as irregular a three points as you will see and Dickov could certainly have done without another dose of powderpuff defence from his team.

Still, it is as exciting to follow this team as it is mystifying as to why more don’t bother, at home at least.

In front of a paltry crowd of 4,080, Athletic scored four times in a game for the first time since a 4-0 home thumping of Hereford almost exactly two years ago.

The game opened up in great fashion for the home team.

Lee’s ball forward appeared more hopeful than expectant, but Tounkara used his bulk to force his way in front of Ngala.

Panic set in and the Argyle defender hauled back the on-loan Sunderland striker as he homed in on goal, referee Eddie Ilderton hesitating little in brandishing red and Dale Stephens confidently sending Button the wrong way from the penalty spot.

Within two-and-a-half minutes, Noone levelled matters. Stepping past Lewis Alesandra too easily, the former roofer fired left-footed and low past the diving Dean Brill.

Rory Fallon almost gave the 10 men a lead when his header flicked the top of the crossbar and Brill had to be alert to block a good effort from Wright-Phillips as Plymouth railed against expectation by continuing to go forward.

Lee’s clever give-and-go almost created a shooting chance for the home team but things were far from easy.

Then as half-time approached, Arnason charged into a vulnerable Alessandra as the pair challenged for a header. His arm was outstretched and so was referee Ilderton’s, reducing Plymouth in number by two.

The second half should have been much easier for Athletic. But three minutes in, Button belted a low clearance from his hands into the path of the rushing Wright-Phillips, who turned inside Hazell to give his team a lead which wasn’t in the script.

At that stage the new 3-4-3 formation which saw Cedric Evina pushed up as a virtual left winger wasn’t working.

Athletic did get to grips with it eventually after the lively Wright-Phillips had dragged another effort three yards wide.

Chris Taylor had a shot cleared off the line and Tounkara levelled matters on 64 minutes to settle a few nerves.

Wright-Phillips was then substituted and it was one-way traffic thereafter, excepting another Brill save from Noone’s far-post effort.

Golden chances came and went, before Mvoto and Kelly came up trumps with their first goals in Athletic colours.