Plymouth Argyle 3-0 Blackburn Rovers: Finn Azaz, Ryan Hardie & Luke Cundle earn win

Ryan Hardie (left) has four Championship goals for Plymouth this season

Goals from Finn Azaz, Ryan Hardie and Luke Cundle saw off Blackburn Rovers as Plymouth Argyle secured their first Championship win since the opening day of the campaign.

Azaz, on a season-long loan from Aston Villa, gave Argyle the lead with a deflected first-half shot that beat Aynsley Pears.

Rovers squandered several opportunities before the home side sealed the points with two late goals in quick succession.

Hardie snapped up the rebound after Callum Wright's effort was parried and Cundle lobbed in Argyle's third after Pears failed to deal with a long clearance.

Rovers, who arrived at Home Park on the back of an 8-0 midweek thrashing of Harrogate Town in the EFL Cup, looked lively again and might easily have scored twice inside the first 10 minutes.

Ryan Hedges' effort was off-target when clean through and Blackburn broke again soon afterwards as Lewis Travis and Sam Gallagher combined to set up Sammie Szmodics, but he rifled the chance over.

Argyle gradually found their feet, with Morgan Whittaker and Hardie linking up well to create an opportunity for Bali Mumba, whose header was turned around the post by Pears.

But the Rovers goalkeeper was wrong-footed in the 27th minute when Whittaker and Hardie oversaw another slick move down the right and Azaz arrived on the edge of the box to hit a shot that deflected into the net.

Pears was called into action either side of the break, tipping Whittaker's attempt behind from a tight angle and then producing a double stop to prevent Hardie from increasing Argyle's advantage.

However, Blackburn's Hayden Carter went close to bringing his side level with a header and Szmodics was off-target again after Hedges had stolen possession out wide to tee up the opportunity.

Hardie finally settled Plymouth nerves 13 minutes from time, pouncing to make it 2-0 after Pears could only parry Wright's angled drive into his path.

Cundle, who had replaced Azaz on the hour mark, then made the points safe after Pears meekly headed away a long ball from opposite number Conor Hazard.

Plymouth's win lifts them to 10th place in the table, while Rovers drop to 13th going into the international break.

Plymouth manager Steven Schumacher told BBC Radio Devon:

"It's a huge three points for us, it gives us seven from our first five games and we can all be quite pleased with that going into the international break.

"We've actually won the game without playing our best. I think we played better in the last two league games and haven't got anything from them.

"We knew Blackburn were going to cause us problems, with their style of play and the athleticism and energy they've got in their team. I felt in the first half they played at a better tempo and we were half a yard off them.

"We scored against the run of play and then we spoke at half-time about being a little more aggressive. We changed our press slightly and the chances we created in the second half, we were clinical with them."

Blackburn head coach Jon Dahl Tomasson told BBC Radio Lancashire:

"Of course I'm extremely disappointed with this result and I don't think it's a fair scoreline if you look at the game.

"In the 75th minute I was thinking 'how is it possible we're not leading this game?' We played some great football, but of course it's about putting the ball in the goal.

"We know how important the first goal is. We had chances to score the first goal and they scored it out of a deflection, but we didn't take those opportunities we had after that.

"To create that many opportunities was good but when you have so many fans travelling down to Plymouth, it's disappointing we couldn't give them three points."