Plymouth Argyle 0-3 Sheffield Wednesday: Owls cruise to victory

Argyle had just three attempts on goal in their poor 2-0 loss at Hull City on Tuesday, but registered as many inside the first four minutes as they made a superb start this time.

Mustapha Bundu forced keeper James Beadle into a diving save after 30 seconds with a curling strike from the edge of the box, while Nathanel Ogbeta went wide from a similar distance before Darko Gyabi headed into Beadle’s arms after a floated free-kick had been nodded back across the face of goal.

But that was about as good as it got for Argyle, a week after a brave 3-1 loss at Manchester City in the FA Cup, as the Owls went in front with their first effort on target.

Svante Ingelsson managed to get the better of Maksym Talovierov by the left corner flag and floated in a pass towards the onrushing Gassama, and while Ogbeta did well to get in front of him he could only bundle the ball past goalkeeper Conor Hazard.

Wednesday should have been 2-0 up seven minutes later when Shea Charles side-footed wide from 15 yards after intricate build-up play from Josh Windass and Ingelsson.

The pair provided more good build-up play to set up Wednesday’s second goal, when Patterson slotted in from six yards from Ingelsson’s pass into the box from the left.

Argyle made a triple change at half-time with Ryan Hardie, coming on up front along with defender Victor Palsson and left wing-back Tymoteusz Puchacz, but they failed to make an impact in a quiet first quarter of the second half.

Wednesday went further ahead when Windass played a lovely ball through to Gassama, who got on the wrong side of Palsson and calmly finished from the corner of the six-yard box.

Smith should have made it 4-0 nine minutes later when Nikola Katic made a mistake at the back to allow the substitute to break through on goal, but Hazard did well to stop his low effort.

And Smith had an even better chance in stoppage time when he found himself unmarked 12 yards out, but he contrived to fire wide.

The win for Wednesday, who thrashed Argyle 4-0 in the reverse fixture on the opening day of the season, added more fuel to the reports that their boss Danny Rohl could join Premier League strugglers Southampton – as the German coach saw his side snap a three-game losing streak.