Neil Dewsnip makes candid assessment of Plymouth Argyle defeat by Stoke City

The Pilgrims' director of football admitted Steven Schumacher's Stoke were 'by far the better team on the day' as they won 3-0 at the bet365 Stadium

Neil Dewsnip offered no excuses after relegation-threatened Plymouth Argyle were outplayed by Steven Schumacher's Stoke City in a 3-0 Championship defeat at the bet365 Stadium.

Dewsnip thought a flashpoint shortly after the half-hour mark, which led to four players being yellow-carded - two for each side - by referee Robert Madley, had been a decisive moment in the match. Michael Cooper had a boot grabbed by Stoke's Million Manhoef after the Argyle goalkeeper had slid out to collect the ball before the onrushing City attacker could get to it.

That led to several players from both teams squaring up to each other, with Cooper booked, along with Stoke's Tyrese Campbell and Ki-Jana Hoever, as well as Argyle's Bali Muma for dissent in the aftermath.

Read More: Argyle find Steven Schumacher's Stoke far too strong

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Dewsnip thought that incident had fired up the home fans in a 24,000-plus crowd at the bedt365.Stadium and gave the home side a lift. They went on to take the lead in the 43rd minute with Hoever and then Manhoef doubled their advantage in the second minute of added time at the end of the first half. There was no way back for the Pilgrims from that.

"We are really disappointed to lose," said Dewsnip. "We knew how important the game was for us but I have to say Stoke City were by far the better team on the day and credit to them.

"The first 35 minutes were okay until the little kerfuffle with Michael Cooper and one of their front players I think and from that moment the crowd seemed to get really involved. I thought Stoke got a big lift from that and we didn't handle that emotion particularly well.

"They scored a goal and then quickly after. I was disappointed with our performance in terms of that last 10 minutes of the first half. We showed an immaturity really, something we will address and look to do better in the future."

Dewsnip made a double substitution for the start of the second half, with Alfie Devine and Lewis Gibson replacing Joe Edwards and Julio Pleguezuelo, and Argyle also switched to a flat back four, but those changes were to no avail.

"We thought they were getting more second balls in the middle of the field than us so we wanted to match the numbers up, which we did," said Dewsnip.

"I thought that improved in the second half and it was more even so I was quite pleased about the way we changed tactically but it wasn't such that we could create any chances really. So whilst we nullified their threat in midfield we didn't create anything, so a double-edged sword really."

Stoke were able to add a third goal in added time at the end of the match with a finish from substitute Wouter Burger, which annoyed Dewsnip because he felt there had been a foul committed before City broke forward.

He said: "It was a clear foul on the halfway line, really disappointed the official (Madley) didn't see that. It was quite clear. The fourth official would agree with me but I'm sure he's not going to go public and say that."

It was an especially disappointing performance from Argyle given how well they had played in their previous match, the 1-0 victory over promotion-chasing Leicester City at Home Park.

Dewsnip said: "The commitment is definitely there but sometimes in sport, in football, you have to just hold your hand up and say your opponent was better.

"Today, Stoke were better. Those 2,600 that have travelled saw last Friday night the same group of players give everything for their football team, and physically and emotionally that might just have taken out a little bit more than what we had we realised."

Argyle had just one shot on target all game, when was a first half strike from Morgan Whittaker was tipped over the crossbar by Stoke goalkeeper Daniel Iversen.

Dewsnip said: "We had some chances in the first half but second half I don't think we created anything did we really. The bottom line our attacking players need better service. When they are getting that they need to do what they have done earlier on in the season.

"They must not lose confidence, they must believe in themselves. We are trying to reinforce that as a staff. Hopefully they will do better next week (when Argyle are away to Millwall in their penultimate match of the season)."

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