ARGYLE Cleverley praise for "complete performance"
- Details
- Created on Saturday, 21 February 2026 18:30
- Last Updated on Sunday, 22 February 2026 11:00
- Published on Saturday, 21 February 2026 18:31
- Written by ROSS REID at Home Park
Bim Pepple also scored twice before Mathias Ross sealed resurgent Argyle’s third league win on the spin with the greens' fifth goal.
Omari Kellyman scored both Cardiff goals to make the score 3-2 at half time before Argyle surged further ahead.
Argyle head coach Tom Cleverley praised fit-again Tolaj and in-form strike partner Pepple: “That partnership is flourishing. The work those two do for the team is something not many see but is incredibly important and they have to keep doing it.
“Really proud of the players going toe to toe with the side top of the league.
“When Kellyman sticks one in the top corner to make it 3-2 to show why they are top of the league, I loved our mentality after that because they would have been favourites to kick-on.
“It was a complete performance. It was a brave performance, and we were on the front foot from the start.
“We were clinical in transition.
“There was an expectation from the fans today that they were going to turn up and win.
“We are creating something here; it stems from doing the right things – the simple things – on the pitch.
“We need to keep delivering. It’s all about one step at the time.
“The team performance is summed up by you’ve got two players on two goals and they are not player of the match.
“Joe Edwards was outstanding again today. It’s one of those performances you’re not comfortable picking out a player because the team played so well but if you were to pick someone that player would be the skipper.
“There’s a lot of hard work that goes in to set pieces and the players are delivering.
“These results are not flukes. There are a lot of reasons for them, and hard work is the main one.”
Cardiff boss Brian Barry-Murphy said: “I have no arguments with the result. Plymouth are a very effective team, have a really good coach and they deserved to win the game.
“We felt as though we were going to be really dangerous in the second half.
“The nature of the first half was a very up and down rollercoaster ride. But in the second half I thought we would be really dangerous and we would definitely score.
“But I think the nature of the penalty deflated us and made scoring really difficult for us.
“I was confident we would score, we started the game really well and looked dangerous.
“But conceded from two of our attacks, when we were trying to create a goal.
“Plymouth broke quickly - as they do – we knew they would do that, we were prepared for that.
“But we didn’t manage those key moments of transition or defending our box well enough today to give ourselves a chance to win and we need to improve that.
“I hold Tom Cleverley in the highest regard, saw what he did at Watford, really admired that.
“The style of team has changed significantly since we played them earlier in the team. Very direct and get the ball forward quickly. But today we weren’t good enough with the ball and Plymouth did a great job.”
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