Morgan Whittaker scores twice as Plymouth draw at Cardiff

Posted Wednesday, December 27, 2023 by PA

Plymouth once again came from behind to salvage a point as they remained unbeaten under caretaker boss Neil Dewsnip as they drew 2-2 at Cardiff City Stadium.

Having twice battled back from two goals down to sneak a 3-3 draw against Birmingham in the first game since the departure to Stoke of former boss Steve Schumacher, the Pilgrims hit back from 2-1 down in the second half to share the spoils.

Morgan Whittaker bagged both goals for the visitors and almost conjured up a winner. Argyle also scored at the wrong end of the pitch, gifting Cardiff their opening goal with a misdirected back pass.

It was the first league meeting between the two clubs since Boxing Day 2009, when a goal for Argyle by Gary Sawyer earned them a 1-0 draw. Fourteen years on they took the lead after only 17 minutes when Whittaker struck.

A free-flowing move down the left flank allowed Ben Waine to send a low cross along the six-yard box to allow Whittaker to tap home his 11th goal of the season.

Almost immediately visiting skipper Lewis Gibson had to move smartly to check Kion Etete at the other end, but Cardiff’s threat up front failed to materials until they had been gifted an equaliser in the 31st minute. A back pass from Matt Butcher to goalkeeper Conor Hazard missed its mark and rolled past Hazard and just over the line despite a despairing lunge from the keeper.

That goal settled down the home side, playing in front of their owner, Vincent Tan, for the first time in 13 months, and they eventually took the lead two minutes into the second half.

A short-corner move led to a low cross from the right by Rubin Colwill that hit a defender and fell straight into the path of the advancing Karlan Grant on the edge of the area.

He hit it sweetly first time with his left foot and the ball thundered into the roof of the net to earn his side the lead.

Argyle made three substitutions just past the hour mark and then Cardiff emptied their bench.

The game opened up and in the 66th minute Whittaker cut in from the right edge of the box, shot once to force a save out of Jak Alnwick in the home goal and then followed up to rifle home the rebound.

It was end-to-end stuff from there on as both teams tried to force the winner in front of a crowd of 23,983 that certainly got their money’s worth.