The Plymouth Argyle star who must secretly hate what happened v Cardiff City | OneFootball

Plymouth's two strikers starred in their 5-2 demolition of the League One leaders, which may leave one man by the wayside

One of the shock results of the past weekend came at Home Park, when Plymouth Argyle blew away the seemingly unstoppable League One leaders, Cardiff City, winning 5-2.

It marked a third win in a row for Tom Cleverley's side, with his forward line starring in all three, scoring 12 goals across the spell.

Leading the line throughout the majority of 2026 has been surprise star Bim Pepple, who was brought in from Luton Town in the summer as someone to bolster Plymouth's attacking ranks, rather than someone who could start regularly.

However, the 23-year-old has taken full control of the starting striker position in 2026, netting seven in 10, including a brace in the 5-2 win over the Bluebirds on Saturday.

Also finding the back of the net twice against Cardiff was Lorent Tolaj, the main marksman at Home Park this season. However, that was just his first start in close to a month following a dead leg injury picked up against Luton in late January.

Now the Swiss Ttalisman is back in action, and partnering with Pepple successfully against one of the best defences in the division, there's no chance Tom Cleverley is going to halt the forward momentum and split this strikeforce up anytime soon, which could put paid to Owen Oseni's chances of re-establishing himself in the Pilgrims' lineup.

Owen Oseni's ankle injury was the catalyst for Bim Pepple's emergence into the Plymouth Argyle side

Oseni has had a modest start to life at Plymouth this season after signing from Scottish Premiership side St Johnstone in the summer for just £60,000. For someone who had been playing in the National League with Gateshead the year prior, it resembled a big step-up.

At the start of the season, the feeling at Home Park was incredibly negative, with the only bright spark coming by way of Tolaj. Therefore, not many plaudits were left for his fellow frontmen, who were being outshone by him.

Nevertheless, Oseni started more games than he didn't through the opening half of the campaign and netted the only goal in their away win at Wycombe Wanderers in December that sparked their current run up the table.

A few games later, he was involved in four of the five goals Plymouth scored against Doncaster Rovers in a big win, but that ultimately was the peak that led to this current downfall for the 22-year-old.

An ankle injury in the reverse game against Wycombe in the final game of 2025 ruled him out for the entirety of January. He was forced off inside 17 minutes against the Chairboys, and the man who replaced him, Pepple, netted in the 94th minute to secure a point.

That simultaneously kick-started Pepple's rise to stardom over the past couple of months, while Oseni's been left by the wayside. Even when he was cleared to return at the end of January, he managed just two bench appearances in three games before then missing out on the last three matchday squads in League One action.

Evidently, the third in that absent run came on Saturday, where both Pepple and Tolaj netted braces in a huge win against the league leaders, and you begin to worry where Oseni fits in going forward.

Owen Oseni will have to bide his time for an opportunity back in the Plymouth Argyle fold

Oseni is very unfavored as it stands at Home Park, and if Pepple can continue this rich vein of form alongside the free-scoring Tolaj to help Plymouth up towards a play-off place, it's hard to see how the 22-year-old gets back into the side.

With the likes of Caleb Watts and Xavier Ameachi as widemen who can also deputise up front, too, Oseni does seem to be right at the back of the line when it comes to selection preference, but through no fault of his own.

With Tolaj's pedigree and Pepple's form, you can't expect those two to be dropped. However, once Oseni is given another opportunity, be that through form cooling down or through injury, as was the case when the Canadian overtook him in the pecking order, he needs to take it.

The 22-year-old has a lot of potential and has shown promise in the opening half of the campaign, but now he has to show how he reacts when things aren't quite going his way.