Plymouth Argyle’s away struggles in the Championship this season continued as they were beaten by a hotly-disputed goal in a 1-0 defeat by Coventry City.

Steven Schumacher’s Pilgrims slipped to a sixth away league loss out of nine games after a 75th minute strike from Coventry’s £7.7million summer signing Haji Wright.

It was a goal not without controversy about it as Argyle were convinced the ball had gone out of play before Milan van Ewijk put the ball in for Wright, but the match officials decided otherwise.

In a game largely devoid of much goalmouth action Schumacher and his players will have been disappointed not to come away with at least a point, even though they were some way short of their best as an attacking force.

It was a result which leaves them still without an away league win this season and that record is putting increasing pressure on them to continue picking up a good haul of points whenever they play at Home Park.

Joe Edwards made his 200th appearance for Argyle – only the 70th player to do that in club history – as he again captained the side against last season’s beaten Championship play-off finalists.

The Pilgrims were unchanged, both the starting line-up and substitutes, from the 2-0 defeat of Sunderland at Home Park on Saturday.

 

The same applied to Mark Robins’ Coventry after their 3-0 victory over Millwall in south-east London at the weekend, which ended a run of six games without a win.

Argyle lined up in a 4-3-3 formation with Ben Waine as the central striker, while Bali Mumba and Morgan Whittaker – who was making his 50th appearance for the club – provided the attacking width.

On a cold night in the west Midlands, Edwards lined up at left-back as he swapped positions with Kaine Kesler-Hayden from the game against Sunderland, with the loan signing from Aston Villa on the right side of the defence.

Whittaker was wayward with an early shot as he slipped backwards inside the Coventry box before the Sky Blues’ Ben Sheaf had a powerful drive headed out for a corner by Julio Pleguezuelo as it flew towards the goal.