Scott Brown hails ‘incredible’ victory as Fleetwood fire up crowd with home win

Fleetwood boss Scott Brown was delighted with an “incredible” 2-1 win against Plymouth in the Scot’s first home game in charge.

Substitute Joe Garner was the Cod Army hero as he slammed home the winner with two minutes remaining.

“I’m so proud to be the manager of this club, but to get the three points like we did today, it’s incredible,” said former Celtic captain Brown.

“I know the lads have got that work rate in them to keep going – they’ve shown me that throughout pre-season.

“I was a little disappointed to lose at Port Vale last week – especially with the second-half performance – we didn’t keep the ball enough and got a bit scared.

“Today was a totally different performance, though.

“The work rate for the whole 90 minutes was exceptional and we deserved to get the result,

“This will help the team’s morale so much.

“We had to repel so much from Plymouth late on. They were putting ball after ball into the box, but we defended magnificently.

“That’s what I want to see here. We want to press teams here.

“We’re so happy we’ve got the three points, and now we can look forward to Tuesday in the cup (against Wigan) with confidence.

“That’s going to be a really good test for us.”

Argyle struck first in what was an entertaining first period at the Highbury Stadium.

Ryan Hardie slotted home from the spot after Toto Nsiala had felled Bali Mumba in the box.

However, Fleetwood levelled before the interval when Dan Batty crashed home from an acute angle.

In the second half, Argyle skipper Joe Edwards volleyed against his own crossbar, before super sub Garner bagged the late winner with his predatory strike from close range.

Argyle boss Steven Schumacher rued what he clearly saw as a below-par performance from his team.

“The performance was average,” said Schumacher.

“I thought we played OK. In certain spells we passed the ball nicely, but then we didn’t have an end product.

“We were too direct too often.

“I don’t think we deserved to win the game, but credit to the lads, they stuck in there and reacted well in the last few minutes.

“We showed some character in trying to have a go and get back into the game in those last few minutes, but unfortunately we come away with nothing.

“It’s so difficult to come here because it’s a tight ground and the grass is really long, but we didn’t have control of the game long enough.

“We knew we were going to be in for a fight and a battle, but we didn’t quite land enough on them individual duels and those loose balls that you need to win a game.”