ONE sending off and two injuries only compounded the misery for Plymouth Argyle as they lost 1-0 away to Swansea City last night.

On-loan Aston Villa defender Shane Lowry was dismissed in stoppage time at the end of the Championship clash.

He was shown a second yellow card after clashing with Swansea substitute Gorka Pintado.

It means Lowry will have to serve a one-match suspension when the Pilgrims travel to Preston North End on Saturday

In addition, right-back David Gray and midfielder Yoann Folly are both injury doubts for that game.

Folly limped out of the defeat by Swansea in the 21st minute after taking a blow on an ankle.

And Gray had to be substituted in the second half because of a sore hamstring.

Argyle suffered their third successive defeat as they were beaten by a 52nd minute goal from Lee Trundle, who, like Pintado, was a half-time substitute.

The struggling Pilgrims remained in 23rd position in the Championship.

But bottom-of-the-table Peterborough United are now only one point behind them after drawing 0-0 at Ipswich Town last night.

Argyle manager Paul Sturrock was pleased with the attitude shown by his players, despite the result.

Striker Rory Fallon almost grabbed a 63rd minute equaliser for the Pilgrims, when his header was superbly saved by Dorus de Vries.

Sturrock said: "This is a difficult place to come to. They have got some very good players who can pass the ball.

"Their width players are very exciting as well.

"In the first seconds of the game, Romain (Larrieu) has a save, but, after that, I can't really think of another one.

"I thought their attitude to play was different class again.

"Rory had two headers, one late on in the first half and that one in the second half.

"We just don't seem to be able to get that goal we need.

"It's three games now that we have lost 1-0 and we have been kicked in the teeth again.

"If you look at the stats, they (Swansea) were the home team and they have had a lot of the ball.

"But if you look at the stats on goal attempts, I think you will find we ran them close as far as that's concerned.

"I'm gutted for the players because their workrate over these three games has been phenomenal.

"They have put a great shift in and come out with nothing. We have just got to keep churning and churning."

Sturrock admitted the injuries to Folly and Gray were a blow for the Pilgrims' prospects of picking up at least a point against Swansea.

He said: "Yoann got a kick on the bone, and it upsets things when you have to change very early.

"We probably shouldn't have sent out David Gray for the second half, but the boy wanted to go out and try. He has tweaked his hamstring.

"It's not ideal when you are having to put substitutes on for injuries.

"It means to say you can't really change the game with substitutions," added Sturrock.

Argyle top scorer Jamie Mackie returned from a one-match ban to play against Swansea.

It was Mackie's first outing since the 1-0 defeat away to Leicester City on November 21 and he struggled to make much of an impact.

Sturrock said: "He didn't influence the game as much as he normally does.

"I thought Rory won all the headers but they just seemed to drop the wrong side of people. We didn't pick up the crumbs."