Caleb Watts' excellent long-range strike was his second since moving to Plymouth from Devon rivals Exeter City
Plymouth Argyle defied their lowly place in League One to put in a dominant performance as they overwhelmed Stockport County at Home Park.
Argyle went ahead when Kyle Wootton headed an Matthew Sorinola corner past his own goalkeeper before Caleb Watts doubled the lead with a wonderful strike from the corner of the penalty area.
However, Oliver Norwood cut the gap just before half-time as he converted a controversial penalty, much to the unhappiness of the home crowd.
But their dismay was tempered soon after the restart when Bradley Ibrahim fired in his first goal for Argyle from the edge of the box to restore their two-goal lead.
The hosts were excellent as the second half went on, and having created numerous good chances were rewarded with a deserved fourth goal as Lorent Tolaj calmly finished after controlling a long ball.
Wootton scored a consolation for County deep in stoppage time before Argyle celebrated a deserved three points.
The victory lifts the Pilgrims out of the League One relegation places while Stockport slip to ninth.
Stockport started the first half the brighter as Jayden Fevrier impressed down the right – the forward's 11th-minute cross found Nathan Lowe whose deft flick almost picked out Wootton in the penalty area.
But it was Argyle who took the lead in a surprising manner – Sorinola's corner appeared to be misjudged by a number of players – perhaps due to the strong wind – and a confused Wootton stooped to nod past Corey Addai.
Watts unleashed an unstoppable swerving right-footed drive from the corner of the 18-yard box 15 minutes later as Argyle scored twice in a first half for the first time in a league game since April.
But Stockport controversially cut the gap soon after as Lowe dramatically fell backwards at the far post from a 45th-minute corner with referee Neil Hair judging that Ibrahim had fouled him despite replays appearing to show very little contact.
County skipper Norwood then sent Luca Ashby-Hammond the wrong way from 12 yards to cut the deficit – to the ire of the home supporters.
Ibrahim – a summer signing from Hertha Berlin after a loan at Crawley Town – tempered that unhappiness as he arrowed home a right-footed effort into the bottom corner within three minutes of the restart to make it 3-1.
The hosts grew in confidence and began to play some excellent passing football - it could have been 4-1 when Bali Mumba did well to get to the byline and cut it back for Tolaj, but the striker's 57trh-minute effort was blocked by Ben Osborn.
Ibrahim flashed a low effort wide of the far post soon after following a lovely stepover in the box while the goalscorer also saw a long range strike saved by Addai.
Norwood saw a long-range strike beaten away from Luca Ashby-Hammond inside the final 20 minutes before Malachi Boateng side-footed wide for the hosts when put through on goal moments later.
But Argyle got their deserved fourth goal as Tolaj found the net for the first time since his move from Port Vale last month as he superbly controlled a long ball before curling in a low left-footed effort.
Wootton glanced a header from a corner off the outside of the Argyle post with 10 minutes left before his low strike from just inside the box in stoppage time added some respectability to the score.
Plymouth Argyle head coach Tom Cleverley told BBC Sport:
"It was a terrific performance.
"We've been doing a little bit of work on performance levels rather than be totally obsessed with results - I think that's important, that we don't get bogged down by our form in the league
"I put it on the players that today was all about performance; you could win or you could lose, but do the things to the best of your ability, and I thought the lads did it fantastically well.
"It was a brilliant team performance. We managed the game well and I couldn't be prouder of the lads."
Stockport County manager Dave Challinor told BBC Sport:
"I think first half we wanted to press and wanted to be aggressive and we were that.
"Intertwined with that was really poor mistakes that gave the goals away.
"You get to half time and 2-1 and you're right in the game, you then need to start the second half well.
"To concede the goal that we did in the manner that we did just knocks the stuffing out of everything and I suppose the fourth goal just sums up our afternoon really."
