Argyle dismay at Leicester loss

PLYMOUTH Argyle's players were united in their sense of injustice after they suffered a last-gasp loss at Leicester City on Saturday.

A goal right at the end of second- half stoppage time by Andy King condemned the Pilgrims to a 1-0 Coca-Cola Championship defeat.

The setback brought to an end a productive, if brief, run of three unbeaten games for Argyle. It also plunged them back into the relegation places. They are third from bottom, two points away from a position of safety in the table.

What riled the Pilgrims was the build-up to King's crucial goal. The midfield man found the net with a close-range shot following a corner which should never have been given, according to the visitors.

Argyle's determined defending was in vain as City pinched the points. Central defender Shane Lowry, who was an inspiring presence at the heart of the Pilgrims' rearguard, was infuriated that the officials had failed to see that home captain Wayne Brown – and not Plymouth substitute Rory Fallon – had sent the ball out of play.

The on-loan Aston Villa player said: "It was an absolute disgrace of a decision. Everyone in the stadium saw that the Leicester defender headed it out. It came off his head.

"The linesman gave us nothing all game. He needed to be strong and flag for the goal-kick, but he didn't do that and they got the goal – and we lost the game and we're back in the bottom three.

"It's hard to swallow, after all the hard work we'd put in during the game," Lowry added. "Rory said he was nowhere near the ball, and that's why we're all gutted. Everyone is absolutely devastated in the changing room."

The Pilgrims had tried in vain to repeat the feat they had achieved in their previous away game, their 1-0 win at Middlesbrough, and keep a clean-sheet. Lowry said: "We defended a lot. It was a team effort, we defended from the front. I thought Jamie [Mackie] and Alan [Gow] did really well up there.

"From the back, I thought we could have given the front men better service, but we hung in there and we thought we were going to get the draw which would have been a good result for us away from home. But it wasn't to be."

Argyle came very close to thwarting an attack-minded Leicester side. "They seemed to have three or four men up front in the first half," Lowry added. "There was a lot of movement up front and it was hard for us to get our bearings, but we were more settled in the second half and we nullified their attack."

The Pilgrims' defiant defending came to nothing, though. All they can now do is raise their spirits and look ahead to the challenges that lie in wait. "Now we know how Ireland [who lost a World Cup play-off last week because an infringement by a French opponent which was not spotted by the officials in Paris] feel. We feel robbed, but we can't dwell on it too much," Lowry said.

"We have to get our heads up and move on to the home game against Barnsley. Hopefully we can turn our results around and get out of the bottom three again.

"When I first came to the club [in September]," the Australian added, "the back four was a bit all over the place, but it has been more settled lately and our results have started to turn for the better. This was a blip, but we've got two massive home games [against Barnsley and Sheffield United] coming up and the target is six points for us."