Plymouth Argyle 2-4 Coventry City: FLW reports as Sky Blues sink Pilgrims in six-goal thriller | OneFootball

Carabao Cup Round 2 action from Home Park as League 1 Plymouth Argyle host Premier League Coventry City.

Plymouth Argyle fell to a 4-2 defeat to Premier League Coventry City in the second round of the EFL Cup, after coming from 2-0 down to level the tie.

A frantic start to the game saw Coventry score twice inside the opening five minutes. Taiwo Awoniyi netted his first goal for the club from close range before he turned provider for Jack Rudoni, who strode into the box and slotted past debutant Argyle keeper James Storer.

Argyle responded in the 20th minute with Oliver Irow netting a brilliant strike on his debut which saw the momentum swing in their favour, with Daniel Bentley's heroics preserving City's lead into the break when he tipped Will Evans' close range strike onto the post.

Less than 10 minutes after play resumed, substitute Xavier Amaechi fired Plymouth level after he caught Liam Kitching napping, before Ephron Mason-Clark restored Coventry's lead in the 67th minute from three yards out.

Victor Torp made it four with just over 10 minutes to play from the spot, which sealed the Sky Blues' place in the third round of the EFL Cup.

Plymouth Argyle 2–4 Coventry City

It took Coventry less than three minutes to find the opening goal of the contest, and it was a move of Premier League quality. Kitching's ball through was neatly flicked on by Caleb Yirenkyi, which set Awoniyi one on one with Storer, and the striker made no mistake with a cool finish.

Not even two minutes later, the Sky Blues doubled their lead. Awoniyi beat Ross to a loose ball and found Rudoni on the right flank, who strode into the box and slotted past Storer, leaving Home Park stunned into silence.

Argyle woke up after the concession of the two early goals and tried to fight their way back into the game. Mathias Ross went close when he headed wide from a deep free-kick 12 minutes in.

City almost added a third before the 20-minute mark when Jake Bidwell met Joel Latibeaudiere's deep cross at the far post. The full-back nodded it back across goal and just wide of the post.

There was a goal on the 20-minute mark, and it came for Argyle. A brilliant diagonal switch from Harvey White found Irow in space on the left flank, and the debutant cut inside and drilled a low effort into the bottom right corner of Bentley's net, halving the deficit.

Awoniyi went close to restoring Coventry's two-goal advantage five minutes after Argyle struck back with a free header inside the box from another deep Latibeaudiere cross which he headed wide.

Just before the half-hour mark, the Pilgrims should've been level. White found space 25 yards out and tested Bentley with a low shot which he spilled. Evans pounced on the rebound, but Bentley threw out a leg to tip the Welshman's effort onto the post.

White and senior debutant Joe Mwaro then saw ranged efforts fly wide of Bentley's goal as the League One side continued to ramp up the pressure on their top flight opponents.

The chances kept coming the home side's way, with Tyreeq Bakinson smashing wide and Irow hitting the side netting, but Coventry held onto their 2-1 lead heading into the break.

The first chance of the second half fell to Coventry. A neat one-two between Awoniyi and Rudoni teed up the latter to send a shot goalward, which flashed just wide of Storer's near post.

Two minutes later, Argyle were level. Substitute Amaechi caught Kitching napping and found himself clean through on goal. He drilled his shot past Bentley with conviction to level his side and send the Green Army into raptures.

Coventry regained their lead in the 67th minute. A ball to the back post wasn't dealt with by Plymouth and Victor Torp tapped it back across goal into the path of substitute Mason-Clark.

Argyle looked for a quick response and almost got it via substitute Tegan Finn, whose close-range header forced Bentley to tip it over the bar and behind for a corner.

The Sky Blues added a fourth from the penalty spot with just over 10 minutes to play. Joe Edwards caught Brandon Thomas-Asante in the box and Torp dispatched the resulting spot-kick to all but send Frank Lampard's side through.

Tom Cleverley's side had a penalty shout waved away in the dying embers. Bim Pepple looked to be hauled back by Kitching as he burst into the box, but referee Elliott Swallow said no.

After four minutes of stoppage time, Swallow brought the contest to a close. After a short scare, Coventry's quality eventually prevailed, earning them their first competitive victory of the season.

Whilst Argyle were defeated on the night, there was a lot to like about their performance. They gave a good account of themselves against Premier League opposition and can take plenty of confidence into Saturday's League One clash with Bradford City.

Plymouth Argyle player ratings

J. Storer - 5

M. Sorinola - 6

M. Ross - 5

W. Harding - 5

J. Mwaro - 6

T. Bakinson - 6 (J. Edwards 74'(4))

H. White - 8 (C. Roberts 59'(5))

B. Ibrahim - 6

C. Watts - 5 (X. Amaechi 46'(7))

W. Evans - 7 (B. Pepple 59'(5))

O. Irow - 8 (T. Finn 59'(6))

Coventry City player ratings

D. Bentley - 4

J. Latibeaudiere - 6

L. Kitching - 4

B. Thomas - 5 (A. Amenda 46'(6))

J. Bidwell - 5

V. Torp - 7

C. Yirenkyi - 8 (J. Eccles 70'(5))

J. Rudoni - 8 (E. Mason-Clark 62'(7))

G. Hamer - 5 (B. Thomas-Asante 70'(6))

T. Sakamoto - 7

T. Awoniyi - 9 (S. Cherif 70'(5))

Unused substitutes: B. Wilson, M. Grimes, L. Tchaouna, M. van Ewijk

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Match attendance

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There were 14,210 fans present at Home Park for the second round EFL Cup tie, including a respectable 2244 from Coventry.

Tom Cleverley reacts as Plymouth Argyle bow out of EFL Cup

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Speaking to the press post-match, Argyle boss Cleverley said: "Yeah, [the game was] entertaining.

"It's never the plan to concede two goals in the first four minutes and that's something that we need to address as a team.

"We showed a real solidity and resilience in pre-season when teams were in and around our goal which we've not managed to take into the season.

"That's something that we had to address last season and we will do it because like I always say defensive records are what you can build success on.

"The reaction to that [two early goals] and the quality we should this evening to make sure it was still a competitive game, we gave as good as we got for the next 85 minutes and I couldn't be happier with the players."

Frank Lampard reacts as Coventry City secure first competitive victory of the season

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Speaking to the press post-match, Coventry boss Lampard said: "I expected it to be difficult, it's not an easy place to come.

"We made a lot of changes so for me it's good to have a look at players that didn't start at the weekend and are pushing for places.

"Great start to the game, two really good goals, high quality goals, and exactly what we want, running through backlines and showing good capacity to run and good combination stuff as well.

"Maybe we relaxed or something but we didn't put our foot down. When you get teams in that situation you should go and put your foot properly down and we didn't.