Plymouth Argyle 3-0 Sheffield Wednesday: Mustapha Bundu scores on first start as Pilgrims down Owls
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Mustapha Bundu's thumping free-kick was his first goal since his deadline-day move from Anderlecht last month
Mustapha Bundu marked his first Plymouth Argyle start with a goal as the Pilgrims brushed aside Sheffield Wednesday to heap more misery on the Championship's bottom club.
Morgan Whittaker clipped the post early on for Argyle but Wednesday dominated much of the first period until Sierra Leone's Bundu blasted a free-kick off the underside of the bar and into the top corner.
Pol Valentin gifted Argyle a second shortly after as he lost the ball to Whittaker and the Argyle dangerman raced through to steer a left-footed effort around Cameron Dawson.
Ryan Hardie completed the win with a low right-footed finish in the second half after Finn Azaz had dispossessed George Byers and played the Scottish striker in.
The win - Argyle's first in five games - lifts them up to 18th place in the Championship table while winless Wednesday remain bottom with three points from their first 13 games.
New Owls boss Danny Rohl still awaits his first goal since taking over earlier this month as his side lost for the fifth time in six matches.
Whittaker's seventh-minute effort against the post came after good build-up play from Bundu and Azaz.
Soon after, Josh Windass and John Buckley both had shots blocked as Rohl's Owls impressed with a greater urgency and the better of the possession for much of the first period.
Anthony Musaba - who was Wednesday's best attacking threat in the first period - put in a teasing ball that saw Lee Gregory sky an effort from inside the box after 31 minutes, but with Argyle eyeing a half-time respite the game turned in the final minutes before the break.
Dominic Iorfa was lucky to stay on the field after bringing down Whittaker when he was through on goal but Bundu ensured Argyle were celebrating when he converted the resulting free-kick, before Whittaker coolly scored the second four minutes later.
With Wednesday chasing the game, space began to open up and Argyle asserted their control - it should have been more for the Pilgrims eight minutes into the second half as Bambo Diaby managed to block Azaz's effort on the line before Whittaker curled a 20-yard effort just wide from the resulting corner.
Windass had a couple of chances for the Owls while substitute Luke Cundle and Azaz both went close for the hosts before Bundu received a standing ovation as he came off with 20 minutes to go.
The 1,428 away fans began to leave when Bundu's replacement Hardie got the third to leave Wednesday five points off second-bottom Queens Park Rangers and 11 points adrift of safety.
Plymouth Argyle manager Steven Schumacher told BBC Sport:
"I'm delighted with the result, that's the all-important thing. We've actually played loads better the majority of this season and not won or haven't got anything from the game.
"I didn't feel as though we passed the ball tonight anywhere near as well as we usually do - that's probably credit to the opposition, I thought Sheffield Wednesday were really good, especially in the first half.
"But we were clinical with our two chances late on and somehow managed to get ourselves into a 2-0 lead. That gave us something to hold on to and build from and I thought we were professional in the second half and did well."
Sheffield Wednesday boss Danny Rohl told BBC Sport:
"It's hard to speak about this defeat today because we want to earn something, this was our big goal today.
"In the end it's about the result and the result is not good.
"The first 10 days I'm here now, for me, I can see a direction that we want to play, but it's not about 25 minutes or 60 minutes, it's about 96 minutes to go forward and that must be our goal.
"Now it's about recovery and we know it'll be a tough race until the end of the season, but we have to be ready for this and I have the feeling the guys are ready for this, but we have to start to take points."