Middlesbrough 0-2 Plymouth Argyle: Pilgrims impress in rare away victory
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Ryan Hardie's first-half goal was his 13th of the season for Plymouth Argyle
Plymouth Argyle impressively ended their five-game winless run as they beat Middlesbrough 2-0 at the Riverside Stadium in the Championship.
Argyle made a great start as Matthew Sorinola gave them an early lead from close range after Darko Gyabi's shot was saved.
Gyabi provided Argyle's second, as he played in striker Ryan Hardie, and they could have been further ahead before the break as Tom Glover saved a host of efforts as boos rang out around the Riverside.
Hardie had a good chance to get a third early in the second half as Boro failed to register any sort of effort on target until the 80th minute in what was just Argyle's second away win of the season.
The victory moves Argyle up to 15th in the Championship and was their first win in three weeks, while Boro are 13th, four points above their opponents having beaten high-flying Leicester City last week.
Having lost poorly at home to West Bromwich Albion on Tuesday night, Argyle were keen to improve and they made the best possible start.
Sorinola got his first goal for the Pilgrims following his free-transfer move last month as the ball fell into his path and his right-footed effort beat Glover despite the goalkeeper getting a despairing hand to it.
Sorinola had two efforts blocked as the Pilgrims - who had won just once away from home all season - impressed with Gyabi, in a more advanced position, looking particularly good.
The on-loan Leeds United teenager's pass set Hardie away for the second goal as the Scot curled a right-footed effort from just inside the box around defender Rav van den Berg and into the bottom corner.
Boro fans were made their unhappy feelings known as Argyle could have gone further ahead in the subsequent minutes were it not for Glover, who saved superbly from Adam Randell, then denied Morgan Whittaker before stopping efforts from Lewis Gibson and Jordan Houghton.
Gyabi again set up Hardie early in the second half, but the striker's effort was blocked Paddy McNair, after he had rounded Glover, while Jordan Houghton shot wide as Boro struggled to create any clear-cut chances.
Sammy Silvera's chance with 13 minutes to go summed up Boro's afternoon as Dan Barlaser's ball in from the right found the forward but he sliced his effort wide.
Argyle keeper Conor Hazard was finally called into action with 10 minutes left as Anfernee Dijksteel's cross from the right was deflected towards goal.
Argyle substitute Alfie Devine forced an 89th-minute save from Glover after Argyle had broken from a Boro corner as the visitors made the long trip back to Devon with three points.
Middlesbrough head coach Michael Carrick told BBC Radio Tees:
"I take full responsibility for that I think, first of all look at me really.
"I got some things wrong and didn't get things right, so it's on me.
"The performance was nowhere near what we're capable of as a group, so that's on me, it's not a good day for us.
"If you want to be successful you've got be able to do it every week and we didn't do it today."
Plymouth Argyle head coach Ian Foster told BBC Radio Devon:
"I don't think it's been a turnaround, our levels of performance have been very good and it's difficult to say that when you're losing games of football, but we have to be mindful of who we're losing games of football to.
"We were all disappointed on Tuesday [a 3-0 home defeat by West Brom] and it's hard for a coach to come out and justify some performances because it feels like you're making excuses, but genuinely the players gave everything in the three games in six days.
"The message was to maintain the levels of performance, because they were decent, but they were just against really, really good teams and we thought if we could maintain those levels we'd get points on the board in games like this.
"I thought the players were outstanding - the starters and the finishers - and it was probably a perfect away performance."