Plymouth Argyle continued their fine start to 2019 on Tuesday evening at Home Park, beating a Walsall side in danger of being sucked towards the relegation battle.

The game was rescheduled due to the Saddlers’ involvement in the Third Round of the FA Cup and a lengthy Tuesday evening trip to the South West was no doubt the last thing the players – or indeed the fans – would have wanted. Both starting XIs were unchanged from victories the previous weekend and Argyle dominated the possession in the early stages without really threatening the goal.

Walsall came close to breaking the deadlock midway inside the first half as a cross from the right hand side was headed goalwards by Josh Gordon. Kyle Letheren, fresh from a superlative display against Coventry, was there again to push the header away at point blank range.

Argyle themselves had a couple of chances towards the end of the half with Yann Songo’o heading over from inside the six-yard box and in-form Ruben Lameiras slashing a snap shot just wide of the post.

Half time came and went, and the home side went for the jugular in the early throes of the second period. The breakthrough came when Graham Carey delivered a free kick from the left-hand side for Ryan Edwards at the back post to head home his third of the campaign.

Straight from the kick off, Walsall pressed forward and were unlucky to not level the scores when Cameron Norman’s header hit the very base of the post. It didn’t take long, though, for the Greens to extend their advantage. Carey this time delivered a free kick from the right, and Niall Canavan scored a superb diving header for his first at Home Park.

Argyle tried to close out the game with a third and Songo’o was the closest to doing so, his powerful drive from the edge of the area deflected around the post.

Walsall had their chances. Andy Cook headed wide from a good position, and Norman tumbled under pressure in the area looking for a penalty.

Cook set up a nervy finale as he collected the ball on the edge of the area and beat three men before firing through Letheren at the near post from a seemingly impossible angle. Fresh from his hatrick on Saturday, this fine goal moved him onto 11 league strikes this season.

The Pilgrims managed to see out the game without too many further alarms and notched up their fourth successive victory; a victory which sees them climb outside the relegation zone for the first time since August. Walsall, on the other hand, have won once in seven now and sit just five points above the dotted line. There are some good players in the squad at the Bescot, and no doubt Dean Keats will get things sussed before the end of the season and begin to pull away from danger.

words Chris Willett, D3D4 Plymouth Argyle correspondent