Last-gasp Adams strikes again to send Saints top

Both sides had traded quick-fire goals early in the second half after a subdued first period at Home Park.

Nathan Tella opened the scoring four minutes after the interval, curling in a precise shot from the edge of the box, but the Pilgrims’ response was instant, as Ryan Hardie’s close-range finish drew the home team level.

Hardie was in the thick of it again when he went down under Gavin Bazunu’s challenge soon after, but the striker was looking for a penalty and rightly booked for taking a dive.

Stuart Armstrong was denied by the crossbar and Adam Armstrong by a flying save from goalkeeper Conor Hazard, while Morgan Whittaker hit the post in stoppage time with the chance to win it for Argyle.

Instead it was Adams, also the match-winner at Hillsborough on the opening night, who sent the away end into raptures four minutes into added time, forcing the ball home from virtually on the goal line after Hazard had denied Armstrong one final time.

Russell Martin made two enforced changes to his side following the enthralling 4-4 draw against Norwich last time out at St Mary’s.

With midfield duo Will Smallbone and Carlos Alcaraz both ruled out with injury, there was a first league start of his career for Shea Charles at the base of the midfield, while Adam Armstrong dropped in to the Alcaraz role as the closest support for Adams, himself in for his first Championship start of the season.

Home Park has been a fortress for Argyle in recent times, with the Pilgrims winning 20 of their 23 home games en route to the League One title last season, and the hosts started sharply.

Finn Azaz twice saw shots blocked in the first two minutes, the second coming from Saints getting caught on the edge of their own box, but Martin’s side soon settled into their possession game.

Ché Adams made his first league start of the season after scoring against Sheffield Wednesday and Norwich

When Dan Scarr caught Adam Armstrong with an overzealous challenge ten minutes in, earning the first yellow card of the game, namesake Stuart stepped up but sent the free-kick straight into the arms of goalkeeper Hazard.

The Armstrongs were involved again when Stuart’s forward pass was won by Adam, before the ball sat up kindly to be struck, but Saints’ leading scorer lashed it wildly high and wide.

Plymouth seemed happy enough for their visitors to have the ball and wait for their moments to counter, which nearly worked when Hardie escaped down the left and crossed low, but Saints were able to diffuse the danger.

Saints wanted a penalty midway through the first half when Kyle Walker-Peters got a toe to the ball in front of Bali Mumba, but referee David Webb deemed the contact insufficient, despite the fact Mumba had been caught on the wrong side of his opponent.

From one counter-attack came another when Jan Bednarek crucially intercepted Azaz’s pass and Saints set off down the left through Samuel Edozie, who fed Adams, whose pass on to Tella set up the best chance of the game to date, but the winger was stretching for it and could not wrap his right foot around the ball to generate the power to beat Hazard.

Saints had their second penalty shout ten minutes before the break when Edozie squared up Joe Edwards in the box and nudged the ball beyond the Plymouth skipper, whose stray arm caught the winger and sent him tumbling, but again Webb was unmoved.

It was something of a cat and mouse first half, with Saints struggling to turn possession into attempts on goal, while Argyle had been wasteful with their final ball when chances arose on the break.

Nathan Tella celebrates scoring the opening goal in front of the travelling Saints fans

Straightaway there was more purpose about Saints after the interval. Ryan Manning delivered a teasing cross just beyond Adam Armstrong, but coming in around the back was Tella, whose instinctive effort from a tight angle was pushed aside by Hazard at his near post.

Then Edozie ran at Edwards again, twisting inside and letting fly with a vicious shot that just did not curl enough to sneak inside the far post.

The threat was down that side, and it was Adam Armstrong drifting out to the left that created the opener four minutes into the second period.

His square pass across the 18-yard line caused hesitation between two Plymouth players and in stepped Tella to curl a perfectly-placed left-footed shot into the bottom corner.

But just as Saints thought they had done the hard work, the hosts responded with an instant leveller.

Whittaker drove past the stricken Manning, who lost his footing, and crossed invitingly for Hardie, whose dart to the near post was rewarded with a typical poacher’s goal from close range.

With the home crowd behind them, Argyle smelled blood and Azaz slipped in Hardie. As Bazunu advanced, the striker almost seemed to slow down, then left his leg dangling to initiate contact with the goalkeeper, and was deservedly booked for a dive.

Saints were back on the front foot by the hour mark. Stuart Armstrong’s brilliant touch and shot from Tella territory rattled the crossbar, while Adams bundled the ball – and Hazard – into the net, but was never going to get away with such a robust challenge with the keeper in the air.

Then Charles intercepted a pass on the edge of his own box and sent Saints away on the counter, as Adam Armstrong tore down the left, but his low ball across goal was out of reach for Edozie.

Stuart Armstrong strikes the crossbar from the edge of the penalty area

With the game entering its final 15 minutes, the hosts looked the happier team to accept a draw.

Scarr crucially won the ball from Stuart Armstrong, while centre-back partner Lewis Gibson blocked from Adam Armstrong, before Adams inexplicably headed over only to have his blushes spared by the offside flag.

With five minutes left, Adam Armstrong stood over a free-kick in a central position and found a gap in the wall, but could not beat the flying figure of Hazard, who made the save of the game high to his left.

It might have been enough to help the Pilgrims to three points, never mind one, but Whittaker’s low shot struck the foot of the near post before Hazard’s save from Armstrong fell kindly for Adams to stab home from barely a yard out.

Plymouth: Hazard, Edwards, Scarr, Gibson, Kesler-Hayden (Miller 70), Houghton (Warrington 80), Cundle (C. Wright 61), Azaz (Randell 80), Whittaker, Hardie (Waine 80), Mumba.

Subs not used: Burton, Pleguezuelo, Butcher, T. Wright.

Goals: Hardie (51).

Yellow cards: Scarr, Hardie.

Saints: Bazunu, Walker-Peters, Bednarek, Stephens, Manning, Charles, S. Armstrong (Aribo 83), A. Armstrong, Tella (Mara 90), Adams, Edozie (Amo-Ameyaw 75).

Subs not used: Lumley, Lyanco, Bree, Perraud, Doyle, Ballard.

Goals: Tella (49), Adams (90+4).

Yellow cards: S. Armstrong, Charles, Manning, Stephens.

Referee: David Webb.

Attendance: 16,392 (1,602 away).