Wayne Rooney’s tenure as Plymouth Argyle head coach got off to an inauspicious start as his side were thrashed 4-0 at Sheffield Wednesday.
England’s former top scorer – who took over as Argyle head coach in May – saw his side struggle to create chances as the hosts eased to victory.
Having dominated the first half Wednesday took a deserved lead into the break as debutant Jamal Lowe finished off a cross from close range following some excellent build-up play.
Jamal Lowe set up the Owls’ second as he headed Djeidi Gassama’s cross against Brendan Galloway for an own goal as the hosts continued to control the game.
Josh Windass added a third goal with a powerful strike from six yards after Anthony Musaba had pulled the ball back from the byeline.
Substitute Michael Smith completed the rout in the sixth minute of stoppage time when he converted a cross from close range.
Danny Rohl’s side could easily have scored two or three more times as Argyle failed to register a meaningful effort on target.
Wednesday started strongly as they controlled the early possession and Svante Ingelsson forced a good early save from Conor Hazard, who was preferred in the Argyle goal to Michael Cooper amid speculation he will leave the Pilgrims.
Plymouth took 16 minutes to have a meaningful entry into the Wednesday penalty area – despite Rooney setting up with two wingers and two strikers – when Ibrahim Cissoko had a cross blocked.
And that formation allowed Wednesday to take advantage of the gaps left in central midfield as Barry Bannan and Windass began to dictate the game and dominate the ball – they had almost two thirds of the first-half possession.
Argyle’s Victor Palsson had to hack away a dangerous 27th-minute cross from impressive debutant Yan Valery while Jamal Lowe had a shot blocked soon after.
And it was former Bournemouth and Swansea City striker Jamal Lowe who broke the deadlock.
Valery and Bannan linked up well to release Ingelsson down the right and his perfect low right-footed cross was converted by Jamal Lowe on his 300th senior appearance.
The second half began with Bannan having two shots blocked as Wednesday continued to boss the game.
They got a deserved second goal as Nathanael Ogbeta failed to stop Jamal Lowe rising up to head Gassama’s cross on to Galloway’s head and past the helpless Hazard.
Gassama should have made it 3-0 two minutes later, but his poor effort at the back post hit the side-netting following a good cross from Valery.
Rooney made a triple change 12 minutes after the break with Bali Mumba, Ryan Hardie and Callum Wright coming on, but little changed as Owls trio Gassama, Di’Shon Bernard and Anthony Musaba all had efforts.
Windass set up substitute Olaf Kobacki’s strike from close-range which was blocked with 10 minutes to go, before Rohl’s side ended any doubt with Windass’ emphatic finish.
Argyle and Rooney’s day was summed up when last season’s star player Morgan Whittaker – who had largely been a spectator throughout the match – dragged a low left-footed effort weakly wide after finally finding some space in the penalty area.
Jamal Lowe flicked a near post header from a corner just wide as Wednesday searched for a fourth goal in stoppage time.
They found it when Bannan dinked a pass to Marvin Johnson and his cross from the left was met by Smith, whose first effort was blocked by Hazard before blasting in the rebound from a yard out.
(BBC)
