NORWICH CITY 2
Sargent 67, Phillips 74 (og)
PLYMOUTH ARG 1
Whittaker 10
PLYMOUTH remain in the Championship relegation dogfight ahead of the Easter Monday visit of Bristol City after this frustrating defeat at Carrow Road.
Pilgrims boss Ian Foster was furious with referee James Linington after seeing his side take the lead thanks to Morgan Whittaker’s tenth-minute opener before conceding two second-half goals.
Josh Sargent struck in the 67th minute, before Ash Phillips scored an own-goal seven minutes later.
Foster was critical of Linington’s decision not to award a penalty to Plymouth when Alfie Devine went down under a challenge from keeper Angus Gunn, while the official’s insistence that Lewis Gibson went off before the corner that led to the winner was also a bone of contention.
“All we ask is that the officials make the right calls and that wasn’t the case today,” said Foster. “I thought the referee got lots of decisions wrong and two of them were absolutely key decisions in the game.
“For me, it was a clear penalty. Their keeper slid in, didn’t get the ball and took Alfie out —but he gave a yellow card to Alfie. For the corner there was a collision between two of our players and immediately the referee calls the physio on — he doesn’t ask if our player needed treatment, which he didn’t, he was fine.
“We have to accept responsibility for not defending set plays properly, but it was still frustrating.”
Plymouth found themselves on the backfoot from the off, but managed to take the lead from their first attack.
An impressive switch in play from Devine allowed Matthew Sorinola to make ground down the right flank before crossing for Whittaker to find the bottom cor
