Steven Schumacher hails battling Plymouth after dramatic win over Rotherham

Plymouth boss Steven Schumacher hailed his side’s fighting spirit as they came back from a goal down to beat 10-man Rotherham 3-2 with a stoppage-time winner at Home Park.

Rotherham had taken an early lead through Jamie Lindsay but goals either side of half-time from Finn Azaz, the first from the penalty spot, put Argyle in the driving seat.

The Millers then had central defender Daniel Ayala sent off in the 55th minute for a second yellow but still managed to level through Tom Eaves, before Morgan Whittaker’s last-gasp strike earned Plymouth their seventh home win of the season.

Schumacher said: “The thing with our lads is because they are young and inexperienced at this level they make mistakes at times, which we can forgive, but what we can never doubt is they never give up and keep going right until the very end.

“I wish it wasn’t as eventful, but to play nearly an hour in the first half and decisions that were made, to score a penalty and all that, it was quite a draining afternoon.

“There was a lot going on but, at the end of the day, today’s result was the most important thing.

“We played so well and worked so hard on Wednesday night (to draw 0-0 at QPR) and we wanted to back that up with three points.

“We made hard work of it really, especially when we went 2-1 up and then they had 10 men. It should have been more comfortable than it was.

“Credit to Rotherham I thought they were brilliant, really well organised and really hard working and a massive threat when they were throwing balls into the box.

“It was tough game and a tougher game than it should have been.”

Despite starting his tenure off on a losing note, new Rotherham boss Leam Richardson, who only took charge earlier this week, took many positives from his team’s display.

He said: “I have been here for a matter of days and you are always looking for signs of encouragement. We put a lot into that game and we should have got more out of it.

“You can only ask for a minimum requirement from your team and that is hard work, desire, application and we had a lot of that today.

“It was a very competitive game. It went the way we thought it would go and we were comfortable within that.

“It is a tough one to take but we stuck at it and we gave a really good account of ourselves coming to a team who are very good on their home pitch.

“While it was 11 against 11, we were comfortable in the game, growing into the game, and deserved to lead.”