Plymouth boss Wayne Rooney was sent off after protesting when Blackburn equalised
Morgan Whittaker's dramatic 97th-minute winner saw Plymouth beat Blackburn after home boss Wayne Rooney was sent off.
Rovers thought they had grabbed a point through Joe Rankin-Costello's late equaliser, which saw Rooney shown a red card in the aftermath, only for Whittaker to head home in the final seconds.
Rooney appeared to think there had been a foul in the build-up to Blackburn's leveller and remonstrated with the fourth official.
The former England captain was then sent to the stands by referee James Linington following a heated exchange.
The two late goals followed Michael Obafemi hammering home his first strike in a Plymouth shirt.
The result moved Argyle up five places to 14th in the table, while Blackburn slipped one spot to eighth.
Rovers made two changes from their midweek defeat by Coventry and the pair brought in by manager John Eustace nearly produced an opening goal.
Ryan Hedges intercepted the ball, creating a shooting opportunity for Makhtar Gueye, but the striker could not get enough power behind his effort.
Andreas Weimann fired the ball at the same goal moments later, but he was denied by a smart reaction stop from keeper Daniel Grimshaw.
Plymouth got their reward for soaking up early pressure when Obafemi pounced following an expert twisting run and cross from winger Ibrahim Cissoko.
The Republic of Ireland international striker nearly made it 2-0, but missed the target after shaking off the attention of experienced Rovers defender Danny Batth.
Plymouth grabbed all three points deep into stoppage time
- Published4 October
- Published2 October
Plymouth continued to show attacking intent in the second half, with Cissoko miskicking a first-time shot, before being denied from a tight angle by Blackburn keeper Aynsley Pears.
A late flurry of Rovers pressure saw lively substitute forward Yuki Ohashi have a close-range effort blocked, before Dominic Hyam's cross was met with a brilliant looping header by Rankin-Costello.
Rooney was adamant that there had been a foul in the lead-up to the equalising goal, and the referee was summoned to the technical area by the fourth official before Rooney was shown a red card, seemingly for comments he made.
At that point, it looked like Plymouth would rue their missed chances, but Whittaker had the final say when he flicked on Adam Randell's headed cross.
In losing back-to-back Championship games, Blackburn also continued their unwanted record of having won just once at Home Park since 1980.
Win was 'fully deserved' - reaction
Plymouth Argyle assistant manager Pete Shuttleworth told BBC Radio Devon:
"I thought we were excellent from start to finish. To win a game like that is really exciting and lets the fans go home really pleased.
"We fully deserved to win that game. The only slight disappointment is we didn't kill the game off.
"When you don't do that, you always allow a team to stay in the game.
"We had enough chances to be comfortable going into injury time. The pleasing bit was our mentality to go and win the game after that."
Blackburn Rovers manager John Eustace told BBC Radio Lancashire:
"For the first hour, we stayed in the game. The plan was to always open it up in the last half-hour with the real positive changes.
"The lads stuck to the task. I thought there was only one team that was going to go on and win the game.
"We scored a good equaliser and then we had some real good moments after that.
"To concede in the manner we did, right at the end, is really, really disappointing."
