The first Devon Derby in three years saw City fall to a 4-2 defeat at the hands of Plymouth Argyle, despite a spirited performance at Home Park.
Goals from Archie Collins and Sam Nombe saw the Grecian take the lead twice, but the home side showed their top-of-the-league quality by scoring three unanswered second half goals to continue their good form.
Gary Caldwell made only the one change to the team who got a point away at Derby County in his first game in charge, with Harry Kite coming in to replace Jevani Brown in midfield.
Once the game got into full swing it was City who had the first chance of the game, with recent goal scoring phenom Jay Stansfield receiving the ball from Jack Sparkes on the left-hand side and on the swivel struck the ball forcing a save out of Argyles Mike Cooper.
Another chance for City came ten minutes later, this time it was Stansfield’s strike partner Sam Nombe who tried to get on the end of another Sparkes cross, but it was the defence of Argyle who stood strong to nick the ball away from Nombe and head it clear.
19 minutes played and along came the first chance of the game for Argyle, Bali Mumba found space on the Argyle left, cutting inside on his right foot and unleashing a rocket, but Blackman stood firm and palmed the ball over the bar.
With over half of the first half played, Argyle were starting to find more space and more time on the ball, but City were unrelenting with their pressing forcing Argyle back on every occasion
25 minutes played and City made it 1-0, scoring directly off of a counterattack from an Argyle corner. The play started with Harry Kite sending an outside of the boot pass down the left-hand side to find Stansfield who on the turn sent Mumba to the cleaners. His run then took him into the penalty area, where he unselfishly played the ball across the six-yard line to find none other than our very own Archie Collins to smash the ball home.
Only seconds later and Argyle made it 1-1, with City unable to clear their lines the ball fell to Adam Randell who sent a looping cross into Morgan Whittaker who took the ball on the spin and about 12 yards out buried the ball past Blackman.
A marauding run from Jake Caprice, accompanied by a one-two with Nombe found the speedy wing back on the overlap but his cross was put away for a corner. With the usual Icelandic clap from the travelling Grecians, Collins stepped up to take the corner, but his cross was flapped away by Cooper for another corner, but the second time around the corner only found the head of an Argyle player and it was cleared away.
With no changes at half time from either side, both managers were clearly happy with what they saw in the first half, but it was James Wilson for Argyle who had the first chance of the second half. A dubious corner awarded to Argyle ended up with Wilson finding lots of space in the City penalty area, but his effort sailed over the bar.
After six minutes of the second half played and very much against the run of play, Stansfield picked up on an Argyle defensive error and fed a picture perfect through ball behind the Argyle defence to find his strike partner Nombe who rounded Cooper, leaving him in no man’s lands, slotting the ball into an empty net. This goal sending the already deafening Grecian support into delirium.
City were once again unable to hold on to their lead for very long and this time it was Argyles loanee Mumba who unleashed an absolute thunderbolt from about 30 yards out, smashing the ball past an unmoved Blackman, this time it was the home support who erupted.
Not long after the goal went in, Steven Schumacher clearly thought Argyle needed a change in the striker department and it was Niall Ennis who was called to make way with Ryan Hardie coming on in his place.
Seconds later and it was Caldwell who decided to run the changes, with City making a double change. Leaving the pitch was Jake Caprice and Tim Dieng and on to the pitch to replace them both were Cheick Diabate and Jevani Brown.
A defensive hiccup from City led to Argyle taking the lead for the first time in the game, with Ryan Hardie picking up on a loose pass out the back from Diabate and then slotting the ball past Blackman to make it 3-2.
City were almost back in the game only five minutes later, after what looked like a messed-up corner routine, the ball eventually fell to Harry Kite about 35 yards who unleashed a rocket from his right foot, only for the ball to cannon off the bar and away for a goal kick. That was to be Kite’s last interaction of the game as he was almost immediately subbed off to be replaced by Matt Jay.
With less than ten minutes left to play, Argyle made it 4-2 and it was the substitute Ryan Hardie once again, this time it was Whittaker who turned provider allowing Hardie to score his second of the game.
City: Blackman, Caprice (Diabate), Key, Sweeney, Hartridge, Sparkes, Kite (Jay), Collins, Dieng (Brown), Nombe, Stansfield
Subs not used: Lee, Harper, Chauke, Cox
Argyle: Cooper, Houghton, Wilson, Scarr, Edwards © (Lonwijk), Ennis (Hardie), Cosgrove, Mumba (Grant) Whittaker (Butcher), Randell, Galloway
Subs not used: Burton, Jenkins Davies, Issaka
Referee: Charles Breakspear
Attendance: 16,567 (Away)