Plymouth Argyle 1-0 Portsmouth: Michael Obafemi late goal seals rare Pilgrims win

Having rested many of his first-choice attackers in the 3-0 loss at Leeds on Saturday, Rooney handed a full debut to Andre Gray up front as he made five changes, while Pompey made one change from the team that drew 1-1 at Hull on Saturday.

Portsmouth started superbly and had the ball in the home net after 48 seconds as Poole tapped in from close range, but he was offside when Connor Ogilvie’s shot came off the legs of Argyle keeper Dan Grimshaw and into his path.

John Mousinho’s side continued to pressurise Argyle in midfield and force errors – they almost went ahead when Ogilvie got above his marker at the back post, but his 16th-minute header was saved down low by Grimshaw.

More Pompey pressure saw Matthew Sorinola do enough to put off Josh Murphy at the far post from Callum Lang’s 28th-minute low ball across the Argyle six-yard box, while Matt Ritchie should have scored 10 minutes later when he got the better of Bali Mumba at the far post but headed into Grimshaw’s arms.

Argyle finally had an effort of note six minutes from the interval when a blocked Whittaker shot was headed on by Julio Pleguezuelo to Darko Gyabi, who missed the target from 10 yards as the hosts survived until the break.

But it was more of the same after the interval as Freddie Potts and Dozzell went close from distance, before Murphy was millimetres away from connecting with Kusini Yengi’s low cross from the right at the back post.

The hosts had their best effort so far soon after as Houghton’s low strike from 12 yards was palmed away by Schmid after good work from Freddie Issaka and Gray.

That 57th-minute chance got the Argyle crowd going – Whittaker was offside as he ran through and put the ball in the net five minutes later – and the introduction of Obafemi, Callum Wright and Mustapha Bundu livened up the home attack in the final quarter.

And it was the former Southampton forward who broke the hearts of their biggest rivals as the Republic of Ireland striker held off Poole after a long goal-kick before finishing from 10 yards out to complete a win Argyle did not really deserve.